By Uche Nnorom, Makurdi
Aggrieved primary school teachers in Benue State have protested the alleged failure of the state government to implement a 2024 judgment ordering their reinstatement and payment of outstanding salaries and other entitlements.
The teachers, many of whom are elderly, staged the protest in Makurdi on Tuesday, demanding compliance with the judgment of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Makurdi Judicial Division.
The case, marked NICN/MKD/12/23, was instituted by Hembaor Jonathan and 127 others against the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), the state governor and the Attorney-General of the state.
In its judgment delivered on April 30, 2024, the court, presided over by Justice Isele, ordered the reinstatement of the claimants and directed the defendants to pay their outstanding salaries.
The court also awarded N1 million in costs against the defendants. The claimants had initially sought N50 million in general damages.
Teachers march through Makurdi
During Tuesday’s protest, the teachers marched from Father’s Moustache to Doo Park in Makurdi, carrying placards demanding compliance with the court judgment.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: “Alia and Adagba, obey the law,” “Adagba is dictating to the Alia government,” and “Adagba is an ineffective Chairman of SUBEB. Remove her.”
Speaking to journalists, Chairman of the aggrieved teachers’ group, Comrade Dennis Gbande, a teacher with Guma Local Government Area under SUBEB, said the protest was aimed at drawing attention to what he described as the denial of the teachers’ legitimate rights.
Gbande said the dispute followed the Federal Government’s policy extending the retirement age of teachers in primary and secondary schools by five years, effective from January 1, 2021.
According to him, the previous administration of former Governor Samuel Ortom had commenced partial implementation of the policy before the expiration of its tenure.
“When Alia came on board, we thought he was ignorant of this, and so we made several efforts to see him, but to no avail. We then wrote a petition on October 17, 2023, highlighting the activities of SUBEB, which was then headed by Hemba Mzaga as acting chairman,” Gbande said.
He alleged that the teachers were compulsorily retired despite salaries still being processed through SUBEB.
“We would get alerts, but the money would not be in our accounts. We, over 128 of us, wrote to the governor, attaching and highlighting this issue,” he said.
Gbande said the governor subsequently removed Mzaga and appointed Dr Grace Adagba as SUBEB chairman, adding that Adagba was later directed to address the matter.
He said a screening exercise was conducted by Adagba on March 14, 2024, but none of the affected teachers was reinstated.
Teachers seek enforcement of judgment
Gbande said the affected teachers subsequently approached the National Industrial Court, which ruled in their favour on April 30, 2024.
According to him, the court directed the government to reinstate the teachers, calculate and pay their outstanding salaries from the period of their compulsory retirement and return them to the payroll.
He, however, alleged that the judgment had not been implemented.
“Adagba dumped the court judgment and continued to dribble us. We wrote several times and decided to sue her for contempt of court,” he alleged.
Gbande said the matter was later brought to the attention of the then Commissioner for Justice and Public Order, Barrister Fidelis Mnyim, who reportedly appealed to the teachers to suspend further action while the government looked into the matter.
He alleged that another screening exercise was conducted in 2025, but that the outcome had not resulted in the reinstatement of the affected teachers.
Traditional ruler intervenes
Gbande also disclosed that the teachers sought the intervention of the Ter Jechira, the traditional ruler in Vandeikya, where Governor Hyacinth Alia and the SUBEB chairman, Dr Grace Adagba, are from.
He said the traditional ruler invited representatives of the aggrieved teachers and the SUBEB chairman to a meeting, where a resolution was reached.
Gbande, however, alleged that the resolution was not subsequently implemented.
Teachers appeal to government
The group appealed to the Benue State Government to enforce the court judgment and pay all outstanding salaries and entitlements owed to the affected teachers.
“Our passionate appeal is that the government should reinstate and pay us all our money as ordered by the court. We are languishing in poverty. We have served this state. Look at our age. Let them comply with the court judgment and pay us our money,” Gbande said.
Efforts to obtain the reaction of the SUBEB Chairman, Dr Grace Adagba, were unsuccessful as she did not answer several calls placed to her phone or respond to a text message sent to her at the time of filing this report.
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