News
Appeal Court upholds N2.5b judgment against ABU over unlawful sack of 110 staff
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the N2.5 billion judgment given on November 30, 2015 by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) against the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria over its unlawful disengagement of 110 staff in 1996.
The appellate court also ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to promptly release the judgment sum to the staff, whose unlawful disengagement was voided in the November 30, 2015 judgment of the NICN, failing which its (the bank’s) principal officers shall be subjected to the court’s disciplinary powers.
A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal made the pronouncements in two unanimous judgments delivered on Friday by Justice Okon Abang, who wrote the lead judgments in both appeals.
The first judgment was on the appeal, marked: CA/ABJ/CV/476/2023 filed against the November 30, 2015 judgment by the ABU, the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).
The second judgment was on the appeal, marked: CA/ABJ/CV/1064/2022 filed by the CBN against the garnishee order absolute made by the NICN on January 27, 2022 ordering the apex bank to pay the N2.5b judgment sum to the disengaged staff, led by Joseph Ekundayo, from ABU’s funds in the bank’s custody.
In his lead judgment in the appeal by the ABU, the FME and the AGF, Justice Abang agreed with the arguments by the lawyer to the disengaged staff, Adegbiyega Kolade and resolved the three issues, identified for determination, against the appellants.
Justice Abang held that the appeal filed by the appellants in 2023 against a judgment delivered in 2015 was an afterthought and that as against their contention, the trial court did not deny them the right to fair hearing.
He said: “Having resolved the three issues formulated by the appellants against them, this appeal is devoid of merit. It is accordingly dismissed.”
Justice Abang proceeded to award N5million cost against the appellants and in favour of the 110 disengaged staff.
The NICN had, in the November 30, 2015 judgment, voided the disengagement of the 110 staff by the ABU, ordered it to reinstate them and pay them all their salary and other entitlements calculated to be over N2.5b.
In its second judgment on Friday, the Court of Appeal frowned at role the CBN played in the bid by the original judgment debtors – the ABU, the FME and the AGF – to frustrate efforts by the disengaged staff to execute the judgment.
Justice Abang resolved the two issues, identified for the determination of the appeal, against the CBN.
He faulted the CBN’s argument that the NICN lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the garnishee proceeding and make the garnishee order absolute.
Justice Abang held that the NICN has the requisite jurisdiction to entertain the garnishee proceeding because it was a consequencial or incidental proceeding to give effect to the November 30, 2015 judgment, given in the substantive suit that was over an employment dispute.
He noted that the judgment creditors (the disengaged staff) had no single claim against the CBN in the garnishee proceeding to have warrant its argument that the Federal High Court was the proper venue for the hearing of the garnishee proceeding.
Justice Abang wondered why the CBN chose to waste public funds in engaging a lawyer to file the appeal when it has the funds to pay the judgment sum after the trial court made the garnishee order nisi absolute.
He said: “The CBN ought to have released that money to the judgment creditors when the judgment was not set aside or stayed. Why is CBN holding the brief for the judgment debtors?
“The conduct of the CBN in this case is reckless and condemnable to the extreme. There is no reason for the CBN to have filed this appeal. Its conduct is oppressive.
“It is not the duty of the garnishee to play the role of an advocate for the judgment debtors by shielding them from the effect of the judgment,” he said.
Justice Abang also criticised CBN’s lawyer, Senator Ita Enang for accepting the brief when he ought to have advised his client to comply with the order for it to release the judgment sum to the judgment creditors.
He added: “Counsel ought to have advised the appellant on the futility of filing this appeal or withdraw his services if his client insisted on proceeding with the appeal.
“Since 2018 when the order nisi was made, the CBN has held on to the money and has been trading with it at the expense of the judgment creditors. This is man’s inhumanity to man.
Justice Abang said it was wrong for the CBN to support efforts by the original judgment debtors – ABU, the FME and the AGF – to prevent the judgment creditors from reaping the fruit of their labour and subject them to inhuman treatment.
He also faulted CBN’s argument that being a public officer, the judgment creditors ought to have first sought and obtained the consent of the AGF before commencing the garnishee proceeding against it.
Relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of the CBN versus Interstella Communications Limited, Justice Abang held that if the AGF is a party to the original suit, the prior consent of the AGF is not required before a garnishee proceeding could be commenced to enforce the judgment in that suit.
He dismissed the appeal and ordered the CBN to release the judgment sum to the judgment creditors without delay.
Justice Abang added that the failure by the CBN to release the money without delay shall attract disciplinary action against principal officers of the apex bank.
He proceeded to award a cost of N5m against the CBN and in favour of the disengaged staff of the ABU.
Other members of the court’s panel – Justices Adebukola Banjoko and Eberechi Wike – agreed with the lead judgments in both appeals.
By Gloria Ikibah
The National Assembly is set to deepen the digitisation of parliamentary records, translate Nigerian laws into Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and other local languages, and expand public access to legislative information as part of efforts to preserve the country’s democratic memory.
The Executive Secretary of the National Assembly Library Trust Fund, Hon. Henry Nwawuba, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja while declaring open the 2026 National Assembly Library Week, themed, “Parliamentary Memory: Connecting Records, Legislation and the People.”
Nwawuba said the three-day programme was designed as an annual platform to promote legislative research, access to information and effective utilisation of the resources of the National Assembly Library.
1. He described the library as more than a collection of books, saying it serves as the knowledge infrastructure of the legislature and a repository of parliamentary records, legislative information, research materials and the institutional memory of Nigeria’s democratic journey.
He explained that the library was working to ensure that lawmakers, legislative aides, researchers and other stakeholders have access to authoritative parliamentary records, including Order Papers, Votes and Proceedings, committee reports, Acts passed by the National Assembly, gazetted laws and oversight manuals.
According to Nwawuba, the Trust Fund was investing in electronic repositories and upgrading its E-Library, while developing a National Assembly Library mobile application to make legislative information more accessible to lawmakers, staff, researchers and members of the public.
He also announced plans for a Bills Tracker, which would enable users to follow bills and monitor their progress through the legislative process.
According to him, the library is developing infographics, audiovisual materials and video explainers to simplify Bills, Acts and legislative procedures for Nigerians.
He said the planned translation of laws into Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and other local languages will broaden access to legislative information and enable more citizens to understand laws that affect their daily lives.
Nwawuba said the library will also organise public policy dialogues to deepen citizens’ participation in public hearings and create more opportunities for interaction among legislators, citizens, researchers and other stakeholders.
He therefore added that the initiatives were aimed at addressing inconsistencies in official parliamentary documents and the circulation of fake or unauthorised copies of National Assembly records.
Representing the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, Senator Osita Ngwu urged lawmakers to make greater use of the library, particularly in an era of increasing misinformation, disinformation and the rapid development of artificial intelligence.
Ngwu described the library as a critical link between evidence, knowledge and legislative decision-making, and called for continued support for its development.
In a goodwill message, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, represented by the House Leader, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, said legislative records were essential to understanding Nigeria’s legislative history and strengthening democratic governance.
Abbas said the strength of a legislature should be measured not only by the laws it enacted, but also by how effectively it documented its activities, preserved institutional knowledge and made such information available to future generations.
He asserted that technology and artificial intelligence could improve legislative research, records preservation and access to information, but cautioned that their adoption must be guided by accuracy, security, professional judgment and protection of the integrity of parliamentary records.
The Clerk to the National Assembly, Kamoru Ogunlana, said the National Assembly cannot be truly independent if it lacked the capacity to generate, preserve, retrieve and authenticate its institutional knowledge and records.
Ogunlana said the library had an important role as a bridge between parliamentary records, legislation and the people, stressing that Parliament could not be fully transparent if its records could not be found, understood and trusted.
He identified the Order Paper, Votes and Proceedings and Hansard as key components of Nigeria’s democratic memory, explaining that the Order Paper provides the agenda for legislative business, the Votes and Proceedings record decisions and proceedings, while the Hansard provides a comprehensive record of debates and lawmakers’ contributions.
The Clerk warned against the circulation of incomplete, outdated, altered or unauthorised Bills, Acts and other parliamentary documents, saying digital technology had made it possible for documents to be manipulated and circulated to thousands of people within minutes.
He stressed that the integrity of an Act depended not merely on the existence of a document, but on the ability to establish which version was authentic, which was authoritative and the legal process through which it emerged.
Ogunlana also called for stronger collaboration among the National Assembly, the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Nigerian Law Reform Commission and the Federal Government Press to ensure that Nigerians have easy access to current and authoritative versions of federal laws.
He noted that the continued widespread use of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, LFN 2004, highlighted the challenges of maintaining a current and authoritative consolidated body of federal legislation.
He explained that the LFN 2004 reflected the laws covered by that revision exercise and was not automatically updated whenever a new Act was enacted.
Ogunlana said the National Assembly must also strengthen cybersecurity, digital preservation, secure authentication, access controls, backup systems and staff training as parliamentary records become increasingly digitised.
He warned that while digitisation would make parliamentary information easier to access, search and disseminate, it could also expose records to cyberattacks, manipulation and impersonation of official sources.
The Clerk said digital platforms must therefore be accessible and secure, while electronic records must be available, authentic and traceable.
He said the National Assembly Library should evolve beyond being a repository where documents are kept to becoming an institution where parliamentary knowledge is preserved, authenticated and made accessible to lawmakers, researchers, journalists, civil society organisations, students and the wider public.
President of the Nigerian Library Association, Dr Lawal Umar, called for sustained investment in libraries and modern information technology to improve access to legislative information, while urging stronger collaboration between the National Assembly and state Houses of Assembly.
The Secretary-General of the Conference of Speakers of African Legislatures, Ambassador Debo Oyewale, said African legislatures had much to learn from one another in building institutions capable of preserving legislative memory, improving access to information and strengthening democratic governance.
A fire on Monday gutted the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) Western Marine Command office in Apapa, Lagos, destroying property reportedly worth millions of naira shortly after the command’s new deputy comptroller, Timothy Jonah, assumed duty.
The fire reportedly started around 10:23am in the conference room following an electrical surge before spreading to other sections of the building.
Customs personnel on duty initially battled to contain the flames before officials of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service arrived at about 10:45am to support the firefighting operation.
Speaking after the incident, Jonah described the timing as unfortunate, noting that he had only just arrived at the command to take over from his predecessor.
“I just resumed duty to take over, only to witness this fire outbreak,” he said.
Despite the incident, Jonah said the fire should serve as an opportunity for the command to strengthen its operations and safety measures.
“Every challenge, though negative, is an opportunity to strengthen our operations,” he said.
The deputy comptroller also announced plans to set up a committee to investigate the incident and establish the exact cause of the fire.
“In the meantime, we will set up a committee to investigate the cause of the fire,” Jonah said.
He commended Customs personnel and the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service for their swift response, saying their efforts helped prevent the fire from causing further damage.
Jonah added that the command would review its existing safety protocols to reduce the risk of a similar incident in the future.
The exact value of the property destroyed had yet to be independently established as of the time of reporting, although the losses were estimated at millions of naira.
The Western Marine Command is one of the operational commands of the NCS in Lagos, with responsibilities covering maritime enforcement, trade facilitation and anti-smuggling activities.
The incident temporarily disrupted operations at the Apapa facility, located within one of Nigeria’s busiest maritime and commercial hubs.
Authorities are expected to assess the extent of the damage while the planned investigation determines how the fire started and whether electrical faults were responsible for the outbreak.
For Jonah, who had just assumed his new role, the incident marked an unexpected first challenge as he began his tenure at the command.
The Nigerian Navy has opened applications for its 2026 recruitment exercise for Batch 39 of the Nigerian Navy Basic Training School.
The recruitment exercise will run from October 2 to October 31, 2026, according to recruitment guidelines released by the Navy on Monday.
The Navy said the application process is free of charge and urged eligible Nigerians to complete their applications online.
How to Apply
Interested applicants are required to visit the official Nigerian Navy recruitment portal and complete the online application form.
Applicants are advised to provide accurate information and ensure that all required documents and details are correctly submitted before the application deadline.
The Navy also warned applicants against paying money to individuals claiming to have connections that can facilitate their recruitment.
«“Online registration and other recruitment processes are free of charge and no payment should be made at any point to anyone throughout the Exercise,” the Navy said.»
Basic Requirements
Applicants must meet the following conditions:
1. Be single and a Nigerian citizen by birth.
2. Possess a National Identification Number (NIN) slip/card or Bank Verification Number (BVN).
3. Be medically, physically and psychologically fit in accordance with the applicable Nigerian military standards.
4. Have no criminal conviction by a court of law.
5. Meet the minimum height requirement of 1.69 metres for males and 1.65 metres for females.
6. Be between 18 and 22 years old as of December 31, 2026.
Educational Qualifications
Applicants must possess at least five credits, including Mathematics and English Language, in not more than two sittings in any of the following examinations:
– WASSCE
– GCE
– NECO
– NABTEB
Candidates applying for tradesmen/tradeswomen positions must also possess the relevant Trade Test or City & Guild certificate, in addition to the required academic qualifications.
The Navy said further details on available trades and other recruitment requirements are contained on the official recruitment portal.
Applicants are advised to use only the official Nigerian Navy recruitment platform and avoid anyone demanding payment for registration, shortlisting or recruitment.
National Assembly Moves to Digitise Records, Translate Laws Into Local Languages
Fire Guts Lagos Customs Office Shortly After New Deputy Comptroller Resumes
Nigerian Navy Opens 2026 Recruitment for Batch 39 — See Requirements and How to Apply
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