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Hon. Justice Rakiya Haastrup of the National Industrial Court, Abuja Judicial Division has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pay N2.5b judgment sum in favour of 110 disengaged staff of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria into an interest yielding account in the name of the court’s Registrar.
The Court ordered that for the stay of execution application to take effect as sought by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the applicant must comply with the directive of the court by depositing the judgment sum as directed.
The judgment sum as ordered by the court was contained in a garnishee proceeding delivered by the court on Jan. 27, in favour of 110 disengaged staff of the Ahmadu Bello University ( ABU), Zaria, that were sacked in 1996.
Joined in the suit as respondents are the 110 disengaged staff, ABU, Zaria, the Minister, Federal Ministry of Education, and the Attorney General of the Federation & Minister of Justice, as first, second, third, and fourth respondents respectively.
From facts, the 110 ABU disengaged Staff had approached the court in 2012, after the failure of the institution to implement the recommendations of various visitation panels, which recommended that they be reinstated and all their entitlements paid.
The Court ruled in their favour in 2015 and ordered the university to reinstate them and pay their entitlements, which amounted to N2.5 billion and non-compliance with the court judgment necessitated the garnishee order on the institution’s bank accounts in 2017.
The Court on Jan. 27 2022 through a ruling made an order absolute in a garnishee proceeding and ordered the CBN to pay the disengaged staff.
The applicant- CBN had brought an application before the court, prayed for an order of stay of execution of the earlier judgment of the court pending the hearing and determination of the appeal, and an order to set aside the garnishee order made absolute.
In reply, the learned Counsel to the 110 disengaged Staff, Femi Adedeji Esq maitained he was not opposing the application for stay of execution on the condition that the applicant complies by depositing the judgment sum with the court’s Registrar.
In opposition, the applicant’s counsel had averred that there was no need for his client to make such a deposit because it could cater for the judgment sum after the Court of Appeal determine the suit in the first respondent’s favour.
Delivering the ruling after careful evaluation of the submissions of both counsel, the presiding judge Justice Rakiya Hasstrup granted the stay of execution on the condition that the judgment sum be paid into an interest-yielding account opened in the court Registrar’s name.
The Court refused the applicant’s second prayer seeking that the garnishee order made absolute to be set aside.
