Brave Dickson
A National Industrial Court sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital has fixed June 15 to hear suit brought by some workers of Emohua Local Government Area of the state against their council boss, Chidi Lloyd.
Since the assumption of office by Lloyd as the chairman of the LGA, some workers of the council had been complaining of unpaid salaries, illegal demotion of their employment grade level among others.
One of the affected workers, Emeka Chinwo had told our correspondent that LIoyd pays workers with Ph’D degree N25,000 as monthly salary.
He said the council chairman unlawfully demoted workers on employment grade level eight to employment grade level four in order to pay them peanut.
The workers said they dragged Lloyd to court because he had refused to do what is statutorily right, hence the court should compel him to do the needful.
In suit number: NICN/PHC/2022, the workers maintained that their salaries were unjustly deducted and withheld, adding that the LG boss also demoted their employment grade level.
According to the originating summons, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants in the suit are: Emohua Local Government Council, the Chairman of Emohua Local Government Council and the Rivers State Local Government Service Commission.
The 19 plaintiffs in the suit are praying the court to grant the following reliefs in their favour:
1) A declaration that the section 7 (5) Fourth Schedule of the amended 1999 Constitution does not give the Ist, 2nd and 3rd defendants the powers to demote the employment grade level of the plaintiffs.
2) A declaration that by virtue of sections 44 (1) 48 (1) (2) of the Rivers State Local Government Law No. 5 of 2018, the 1st and 2nd defendants have no power to demote or cut the salaries of the claimants.
3) A declaration that the salary cut and downgrading of employment grade level of the claimants by their council boss without any indictment of wrongdoing by a legal panel of investigation violates the rights of the plaintiffs as contained in section 54 (1) (2) (b) of the Rivers State Local Government Law No. 5 of 2018 as well as section 36 (1) of the amended 1999 Constitution.
4) An order of this Honourable Court on the defendants to within seven (7) days of the judgment of this Court re-instate the claimants to their employment grade level.
5) An order of this Honourable Court on the defendants to within seven (7) days of the judgment of the Court to release in full, the withheld and unpaid salaries of the claimants.
6) An order of this Honourable Court on the 1st and 2nd defendants to pay every claimant so affected by the defendants’ policy of demotion and salary cut, the sum of N1million only to represent the traumatic damage suffered by the affected workers.
Our correspondent reports that the solicitor of the plaintiffs, Freedom Conflict Prevention and Social Integration (FREECON) led by its lead counsel, Barr Kingdom Chukwuezie also prayed the court to order the defendants to tender apologies to the claimants on two national newspapers circulated in the country.
