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Owerri – Presiding Judge of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Owerri Judicial division, His Lordship, Hon. Justice Ibrahim Galadima in a judgment delivered today Monday 1st April, 2019 declared the appointments of Mr. Ishmael Nna and Mr. Chukwuka Akwu subsist as a civil servant, that the refusal by the Rivers State Government, whether willfully or inadvertently, to either issue them with permanent letters of appointment and or letters of termination of their respective appointments, was indeed wrong and unlawful and Nonpayment of their salaries and entitlements from the year 1999 to date is indeed a gross illegality.
These Claimants along with several others, were purportedly employed by Rivers State Government , Rivers State Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Rivers State Ministry of Culture and Tourism (1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants) on 12/3/1999 as security guards by letters of appointment purportedly signed by one C. W. Esukpa on behalf of the Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Commerce, Tourism and Industry and were accordingly deployed to the International Airport Hotel, Omagwa in Rivers State.
According to their letters of employment, their formal letters of permanent appointment were supposedly to have been issued by the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Establishment Training, and Pensions Bureau of the Governor’s Office,Rivers State (4thDefendant) subsequently.
That During the purported employment period, the Claimants allege they were only paid the sum of N3000 per month as salaries for March, April, May and June 1999, but were not paid from the month of July1999 to date.
The Claimants allegedly wrote several letters complaining of and demanding for the payment of their salaries by the Defendants who kept promising to pay them but to no avail which thus necessitated the commencement of this here action.
The joint Defendants’ Counsel asked for determination in the written final arguments whether there was a valid contract between the Claimants and the Rivers State Govt or any of its agencies or Whether the Claimants should be regarded as employees under the extant Labour Act? Or Whether this suit is statute barred or not and whether this Court has the jurisdiction to try a case that is statute barred?
Counsel contended that the Defendants never intended to create any legal relationship since those letters of appointment between the parties was predicated on a pre-condition which is the issuance of a further letter by the Permanent Secretary, Establishment and Pensions Bureau in the Governor’s Office.
That Being an illegal contract therefore, the Claimants are not entitled to any remedy or relief from this Court and as such, their claims must be refused.
Finally, on issue four, learned Counsel submitted that a study of the processes in this suit indicate that this suit was filed 14 years making the suit statute barred, in view of Rivers State Laws of 1999 and POPA Act that specifies actions founded on tort and contract must be commenced within five years after the cause of action arose which the court had earlier dismissed in a ruling delivered and held that limitation law does not affect the matter as being instituted.
In opposition, claimants Counsel submitted that appointments letters indicate that the Claimants are public servants whose employments are statutorily governed by the public service Rules.
It was contended further by Counsel that there is no evidence suggesting that the responsibility for the payment of salaries and allowances was transferred to the International Hotel, Omagwa, or that the Claimants’ employments were terminated.
Learned Counsel argued that the Claimants had averred in their pleadings that they were interviewed and passed their interviews showing they were fit for the work they were employed to do, and the mere stoppage of their salaries is not the appropriate way to terminate their appointments even though they were undeniably on probation.
After careful evaluation of all the processes filed, and the submissions of the learned Counsel from both sides. The Court presided by Hon. Justice Ibrahim Galadima expressed thus;
“There is clearly every reason to believe there was an offer and an acceptance by the respective Claimants. The letters given to them conclusively suggest unequivocally, that the Defendants had employed them to provide the services of securing their premises and properties.
“The burden indeed lies on the Defendants to establish the illegality of those contracts of employments and this burden has not been discharged. I therefore find it improbable and refuse the arguments proffered by the Defendants’ Counsel on this issue.
“The fact is these Claimants are for all intents and purposes, civil servants of the Rivers State Government. Their appointment and termination are therefore subject to the applicable Civil Service Rules and Regulations.
“The fact that they were never confirmed as staff or permanent employees of the Defendants is of no moment since it is assumed that having been in the Defendants’ employment for more than 2 years, they automatically became confirmed civil servants.
“There is also no evidence to establish otherwise that the Claimants did not perform their duties as security guards at their deployed location from the day they were deployed there in 1999 to date.
“Therefore, having resolved the above two issues again in favor of the Claimants, I find and hold that there is nothing before this Court to show that the engagements of the Claimants were dispensed with or terminated according to any laid down rules or procedures.
“The refusal by the Defendants, whether willfully or inadvertently, to either issues them with permanent letters of appointment and or letters of termination of their respective appointments, was indeed wrong and unlawful.”
The court ordered defendant to pay each claimant sum of N708,000 as his unpaid salaries from July 1999 till date and N1,500,000 costs of maintaining action since 2013 within 30 days.
