Court stops El-Rufai from sacking Kaduna teachers

Kaduna Division of the The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, on Thursday ordered Kaduna State government to stop the planned sack of 21,780 primary school teachers who failed competency test, pending court injunction.

The teachers had in October dragged the government before the industrial court asking the court to restrain the government from dismissing or disengaging any teacher on the basis of the test conducted in June 2017.

The teachers’ counsel Samuel Atum, had equally filed a motion of “interlocutory injunction”, seeking stay of action pending the outcome of the case.

Meanwhile, Justice Lawal Mani granted the application pending the determination of the substantive suit and adjourned the case to February 6th, 2018.

Speaking with newsmen shortly after the court session, the plaintiff’s counsel lauded the court for graciously granting their prayers.

He said, “I have confidence that the government will comply and obey this order. This is democracy and the premise of democracy is the rule of law, so we expect nothing more than absolute submission by the state government to comply with the order of the court,”.

Lawyers representing the State Attorney General and the State Government, as well as Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN, declined comments.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Teachers present at the court were seen jubilating and congratulating themselves over the court injunction.

The planned sack of the 21,780 primary school teachers who failed the competency test had generated a lot of heat in the state, even though the state government had earlier vowed that it will not rescind its decision, as it claimed it was taking the best decision in the interest of the future of the primary school pupils.