A’Court orders CBN: Pay sacked ABU workers N2.5bn now

CBN gov, Cardoso

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has threatened to sanction the Central Bank of Nigeria if it further delays the payment of N2.5bn judgment debt to 110 workers unlawfully sacked by Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1996.

The threat came on Friday after the court dismissed fresh attempts by the CBN and ABU to stop the N2.5bn payment.

In two unanimous judgments delivered by separate three-man panels, the appellate court ordered the CBN to immediately release the N2.5bn lodged with it by ABU for onward payment to the affected workers.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Okon Abang dismissed the CBN’s argument that the former ABU workers, who were ordered to be reinstated by the National Industrial Court, could not institute garnishee proceedings against the bank to recover the judgment sum.

The court also rejected the claim that the consent of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice must first be obtained before the payment could be effected.

The CBN and ABU had separately appealed against the judgment of the National Industrial Court, which ordered the university to pay the entitlements of the 110 workers after finding that they were unlawfully laid off by the sole administrator of the institution, Gen Mamman Kontagora (rtd), in 1996.

Both appellants also faulted the garnishee proceedings initiated by the workers to enforce the judgment. Punch