The Presiding Judge of the Yola Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court, Hon. Justice James Agbadu-Fishim, PhD, has declared the exclusion of Mr Hosea and 17 others who are non-indigenous Staff of the Taraba Publishing Company from redeployment based on their states of origin as unconstitutional and infringing on their fundamental right to freedom from discrimination as protected by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Court held that the act of the Taraba State Government in selectively absorbing the employees of the Taraba Publishing Company into the State Civil Service by adopting indigene criteria was discriminatory against Mr Hosea and 17 others who were non-indigenes and constituted a violation of the constitutional right against discrimination at the workplace under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Justice Agbadu-Fishim ordered the Executive Governor of Taraba State, the Attorney General, Commissioner for Information, and Taraba Publishing Company Limited to pay Mr. Hosea and 17 others’ N73,257,715.40k (Seventy Three Million, Two Hundred and Fifty Seven Thousand, Seven Hundred and Fifteen Naira Forty Kobo) as their entitlements from September, 2014 till January, 2021, and awarded the sum of N30m as damages for the mental torture, trauma and hardship suffered by Mr. Hosea and 17 others, and N5.3m as costs of the action.
From facts, the Claimants, Mr Hosea and 17 others, had submitted that they were employed at various times by the Taraba Publishing Company, and that their appointments were subsequently confirmed after they satisfactorily completed their probation periods.
They maintained that they remained committed to their respective responsibilities and were regularly paid their salaries until September 2014 when payment of their salaries was stopped.
Mr. Hosea and 17 others pleaded further that their employments were never terminated and that no official letters of disengagement were issued to them, and that although the Taraba Publishing Company ceased operations in some of its offices, the Executive Governor of Taraba state and the Taraba state government absorbed employees of the Taraba Publishing Company who were indigenes of Taraba State into the Taraba State Civil Service while leaving out Mr. Hosea and 17 others who were non-indigenes of Taraba State.
In defence, the Executive Governor of Taraba State and 3 others maintained that the Taraba Publishing Company was wound up and that the Taraba State Government employed eligible and qualified former staff of the Publishing Company into the Civil Service of Taraba State after observance of due process.
The Learned Counsel for the Executive Governor of Taraba State and 3 others argued that the Taraba Publishing Company was an incorporated company with a corporate personality different from its promoters, owners, shareholders, incorporators and directors, and that Mr. Hosea and 17 others, having been employees of the Publishing Company, had no contractual relationship with the Taraba State and 3 others or evidence establishing how they became responsible for the payment of their salaries.
The Learned Counsel to the Executive Governor of Taraba State and 3 others further submitted that even if the Government had controlling shares in the Taraba Publishing Company, that did not bring Mr Hosea and 17 others’ employment under the purview of the Civil Service or make the Publishing Company an agent of the Taraba State Government.
In opposition, Learned Counsel for Mr Hosea and 17 others, Dr M.M. Mailafiya, posited that his clients had established their case by credible, cogent and uncontroverted evidence and urged the Court to grant the reliefs sought.
In a well-considered judgment after thorough consideration of the pleadings and evidence adduced, Justice James Agbadu-Fishim, held that the assertion of the Executive Governor of Taraba State and 3 others that the Taraba Publishing Company had been wound up was totally debunked and discredited by the unchallenged documentary evidence presented by Mr. Hosea and 17 others, particularly the Status Report of the Publishing Company from the Companies Registry of the Corporate Affairs Commission showing that the Company was alive and not dissolved.
Justice Agbadu-Fishim stated that the Taraba State Government promoted and incorporated the Taraba Publishing Company for publishing business purposes, controlled its affairs and appointed its Managing Consultant and Chief Executive Officer.
Justice Agbadu-Fishim held that the Taraba State Government could not create a company, employ staff through the company for its publishing or commercial purposes, cease funding or operating the company, fail to terminate the employment of the staff, fail to wind up the company according to the law, and then rely on the company’s separate personality to defeat accrued salary and gratuity or terminal benefit claims or employment obligations and constitutional purposes.
The Court stated that employees of a State-owned incorporated company may be regarded as being in the public service of the State for constitutional purposes where the Government holds controlling shares or interest in the company, but that such employees remain governed by the company’s regulations, conditions of service and employment contracts unless the Public Service Rules are expressly or impliedly incorporated into their employment.
The Court held that in such exceptional and peculiar situations, the State Government shall not be allowed to rely on the corporate personality of the company to avoid or defeat employment obligations and constitutional rights.