The National Industrial Court sitting in Yola has nullified the purported employment termination of one Dr. Saidu Adamu from Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, Adamawa State, and ordered the university and its governing council to immediately reinstate Dr. Adamu to his position as lecturer 1.
The presiding judge, Justice Sanusi Kado, also ordered the university management pay Dr. Adamu his salaries and allowances and other entitlements from the day of purported termination (July 2015) to date and subsequently till his services are lawfully determined.
The court held that Dr. Saidu Adamu never appeared before any disciplinary committee or given the opportunity to exculpate himself from the alleged misconduct that the approval of the governing council was based on the memorandum of the Vice-Chancellor and not the report of the Disciplinary Committee which was never laid before the council.
Justice Kado added that all the council did was to “rubber-stamped” what the university management committee has done, a practice the presiding judge said was against the well-established procedure for discipline of academic staff of the university.
The claimant, Dr. Saidu Adamu, had contended that the university relied on the alleged misconduct as the basis for unlawful termination of his appointment, and was not informed or notified in writing of any sitting by the staff disciplinary committee in which he was required to appear and answer the allegation made against him.
The defendants, the university and its governing council, in their defence, stated that Dr. Saidu Adamu was estopped from complaining against the termination having conducted all his clearances successfully and even receiving his three months’ salary in lieu of notice, adding that the claimant was duly notified of the various sittings in respect of the alleged misconduct where he appeared on and interacted with the committee.
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The defendants maintained that due process was followed in terminating Dr. Adamu’s employment as provided by the regulations governing the conditions of service of senior staff of the University, urging the court to dismiss the case in its entirety.
M. V. Artsev, counsel for Dr. Adamu, contended that the process leading up to the termination of his appointment was not in consonance with the rules and regulations guiding the appointments and termination of appointment of the Defendant’s staff of his cadre, urging the court to grant the reliefs sought.
Delivering judgment, Justice Kado held that the acceptance by Dr. Saidu Adamu of the three months’ salary in lieu of notice of retirement did not amount to acceptance of the invalid and void retirement.
The presiding judge added that the termination of claimant’s employment was not done by the governing council as required to be done by the law and the infraction has rendered the termination of Dr. Adamu’s employment null and void and of no effect, as it was not done by the authority vested with the power to do so.
Justice Kado further held that the university management committee that took the decision to terminate Dr. Saidu Adamu’s employment has no such power or mandate under the university law, saying it is only the governing council that is statutorily vested with such power and no provisions of the law governing the university empowering the governing council to delegate or abdicate its function.
