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The National Industrial Court sitting in Kaduna has ruled that the BAJJU (KAJJU) Traditional Council and the Kaduna State Ministry for Local Government Affairs acted unlawfully in stopping the salary of Mr. John Bulus from April 2023. The court held that the refusal to pay his wages and office entitlements, despite repeated demands, was unfair and constituted an injustice.
Delivering judgment, the Presiding Judge of the Kaduna Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Bashar Alkali, ordered the defendants to immediately pay Mr. Bulus all outstanding salaries and benefits from April 2023 to date. The court further directed that his salary should continue to be paid for as long as he remains in employment. In addition, it awarded ₦500,000 as general damages for breach of contract and a further ₦500,000 as the cost of the action, to be paid within 30 days.
Justice Alkali ruled that any stoppage of Mr. Bulus’s salary must comply strictly with the applicable conditions of service, relevant regulations, or the Kaduna State Civil Service Rules governing his employment. He held that any action taken outside these provisions was unlawful.
From the facts placed before the court, Mr. Bulus told the court that he was employed on November 11, 1997, in a pensionable position by the Bajju (now Kajju) Traditional Council, Zonkwa, Kaduna State. He said his employment was based on the authority granted by the Kaduna State Ministry for Local Government Affairs, which empowers traditional councils and chiefdoms to employ staff required for the discharge of their duties.
Mr. Bulus further stated that he was posted to No. 2, ChallawaCrescent, Kaduna South, Kaduna State, where he was assigned duties by the then Agwam Bajju. He said he has remained at that duty post to date. According to him, his monthly salary, which had risen to ₦15,550 by April 2023, stopped accruing in May 2023, with the last payment made in March 2023. He added that all efforts to secure payment of his salary proved unsuccessful.
In its defence, the BAJJU (KAJJU) Traditional Council told the court that Mr. Bulus failed to report to the Agwam Bajju Palace in Zonkwa after his probation period. The council claimed that he instead worked at a private residence at No. 2, ChallawaCrescent as a security guard, rather than as a messenger, and argued that it could not continue paying an unverified staff member who was not working at the palace.
Responding, Mr. Bulus’s counsel, Emmanuel Okunola, Esq., alongside N. P. Datoegoen, Esq., submitted that although the new Agwam Bajju II was installed on December 24, 2022, the defendants continued to pay their client’s salary until March 2023. He said the salary was subsequently stopped without any explanation and urged the court to remedy what he described as a clear injustice.
In a well-considered judgment, Justice Alkali held that where an employer neither confirms nor terminates an employee after a probationary period but continues to utilise the employee’s services, such conduct amounts to “confirmation by conduct”. He added that the defendants could not subsequently raise issues of irregular appointment, having paid Mr. Bulus’s salary consistently for several years.
The judge also described the BAJJU (KAJJU) Traditional Council’s argument on the unenforceability of Mr. Bulus’s employment as unknown to labour law. He ruled that the council failed to set up any disciplinary panel or afford Mr. Bulus a fair hearing before stopping his salary, noting that the action amounted to a breach of his rights.
