Sacked Ekiti workers seek reinstatement, payment of 5-year salary arrears

No fewer than 2,000 workers under the aegises of the Ekiti State Teaching Serving Commission and the Ekiti State Civil Service Commission have appealed to Governor Biodun Oyebanji to reinstate the appointments of their sacked members and pay their five-year backlogs.

The workers made the call on Tuesday in a press conference at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Secretariat, old Governor’s Office, Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State.

A statement jointly signed by Ajayi Peter and Aribatise Ademola, and read by Bayo Omoyeni, said no fewer than 2, 000 workers were employed in September 2018 under the administration of Ayodele Fayose but had their appointments terminated by former Governor Kayode Fayemi, who described them as “irregular appointments.”

The statement said that the workers “were employed under a free, fair, and credible process as laid down by the Civil Service Law of Ekiti State.”

However, the workers were not paid a dime after working in the service commission for nine months before they were sacked by the Fayemi administration.

Meanwhile, the National Industrial Court sitting in Akure, Ondo State, on Thursday, February 8, 2024, had delivered judgement in suit No. NICN/AK/30/2022, in favour of the workers.

The court, presided over by Justice K.D. Damulak, declared that the workers, having been employed by the Ekiti State Government and posted to different workplaces, are entitled to be paid by government.

He ordered the Ekiti State Government to pay the salaries of the 2018 TESCOM and civil service staff from the date of their appointments until the date of the judgement.

The group called on Governor Biodun Oyebanji “to be merciful and do the right thing” by calling them back into the state’s civil service.