The National Industrial Court, NIC, will decide the legality of a suit filed by tertiary workers who were dismissed by the Plateau State government after they were employed by the administration of former Governor Simon Bako Lalong without due process.
In the suit filed by the workers who were sacked from various institutions across the state, the aggrieved claimants had implored the NIC to revisit the termination of their appointments by the Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s administration, which they described as unlawful.
Counsel to the sacked workers, Nantok Dashuwar, who spoke to journalists after the court session in Jos on Wednesday, explained that the case stems from the mass employment exercise carried out by the Lalong administration in 2022, barely three months before the end of his tenure.
According to Dashuwar, the current administration arbitrarily terminated those appointments shortly after assuming office, prompting the affected workers to approach the court for redress.
Dashuwar stated that in a previous ruling, the NIC had earlier ruled in favor of the employees, declaring their initial sack illegal, ordering their immediate reinstatement, but a few days after their reinstatement, the affected institutions once again dismissed them, arguing that the second termination prompted the fresh legal action now before the NIC.
“We are saying that the termination is unlawful, it is illegal, and it is invalid,” Dashuwar stated, emphasizing that the institutions failed to follow the procedures required by law.
Dashuwar also reiterated that the current case which involves the Plateau State Polytechnic and the College of Education, Gindiri, came up for mention for the first time on Wednesday, before Justice S.I. Galadima, who adjourned to December 9, 2025, for hearing to determine the legality of the dismissals.
“This is another opportunity for justice to prevail. We are confident that the court would uphold the rule of law and protect the rights of the affected employees.
“The recurring terminations have inflicted hardship on the workers, many of whom have families depending on them,” Dashuwar said, stressing that the case was not just about employment but about fairness, legality, and the sanctity of court judgments.
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