The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed fresh attempts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) to stall the enforcement of a N2.5 billion judgment debt awarded to 110 former university employees who were unlawfully dismissed in 1996.
In two unanimous decisions delivered by separate three-member panels, the appellate court directed the CBN to release the funds to the affected workers immediately, without further delay.
Delivering the lead judgment on Friday, Justice Okon Abang warned that severe sanctions would be imposed on officials of the apex bank should it continue to withhold the money, which has been in its custody since 2018 after ABU deposited the sum for the settlement of the judgment debt.
The court faulted the CBN and its counsel for what it described as deliberate efforts to frustrate the execution of the National Industrial Court’s judgment, observing that their actions had prolonged the workers’ hardship and suffering.
Justice Abang rejected the CBN’s contention that the workers could not initiate garnishee proceedings against the bank to recover their entitlements. He also dismissed the argument that the consent of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice was required before payment could be effected.
The CBN and ABU had separately appealed against the enforcement of the Industrial Court’s ruling, which ordered the university to pay the workers’ entitlements after finding that they had been unlawfully dismissed by the institution’s sole administrator at the time, Gen. Mamman Kontagora. Both appellants also challenged the garnishee proceedings commenced by the workers to enforce the judgment.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeals, describing them as lacking merit.
Justice Abang upheld the garnishee order absolute issued on January 27, 2022, by Justice Rakiya Haastrup of the National Industrial Court, which directed the CBN to pay the judgment sum from ABU’s funds in its custody. He ruled that the workers acted lawfully in approaching the court to enforce payment through garnishee proceedings.
The appellate court further criticised the CBN for expending public funds to engage lawyers to resist payment, describing the bank’s conduct as reckless and reprehensible, particularly as the funds had already been deposited with it specifically to settle the judgment.
According to the court, the CBN had no legal basis to oppose the payment, stressing that its role was not to act as an advocate but to comply with a valid court order in the absence of any contrary directive.
Justice Abang also held that the actions of the CBN and its counsel had wasted judicial time and unfairly denied the workers the benefit of their hard-won legal victory.
“The situation must not continue. There must be an end to it. The workers deserve the fruit of their labour,” the judge said.
In addition to ordering the immediate release of the N2.5 billion judgment sum, the Court of Appeal awarded N5 million in costs against the CBN and another N5 million against ABU, both payable to the workers.
