EFCC hands over recovered N1.05bn entitlements to 659 disengaged Adamawa teachers

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has handed over N1.05 billion to 659 teachers disengaged in 2014 by the Adamawa State Government.

The commission’s Gombe Zonal Directorate handed over a bank draft worth N1,054,919,532.61 on Thursday. EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale made this known in a statement shared with PREMIUM TIMES.

The teachers’ lawyer, Luka Haruna, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), received it on their behalf, according to the EFCC.

The EFCC said it began investigating the matter after receiving a petition from Abraham Song in 2024 over the teachers’ unpaid entitlements.

According to the commission, its investigation revealed a risk that the funds could be misapplied. It stated that it took steps to preserve the money, leading to its recovery and handover.

Speaking at the ceremony, the commission’s Acting Zonal Director, Austine Adache, noted that the EFCC was committed to accountability, justice and returning recovered funds to their rightful owners.

Mr Haruna thanked the commission for its efforts, while Mr Song said the recovery would help ease the financial hardship faced by the teachers.

The teachers were employed by the Adamawa State Government in 2012 and worked in secondary schools across the state for 29 months before the government declared their appointments illegal in December 2014.

They challenged their disengagement at the National Industrial Court, which ruled in their favour on 13 June 2018.

The judge N.C.S. Ogbuanya held that the teachers had a valid employment relationship with the state government and were entitled to their outstanding salaries and other benefits.

The court ordered the government to pay about N660 million, including N638.3 million in salary arrears and N22 million as one month’s salary in lieu of notice. It gave the government two months to pay, with interest of 10 per cent per annum accruing on the outstanding sum if it failed to comply.

The government had argued that the teachers were illegally recruited and lacked the required qualifications.

It also explained that they had been dropped after a screening exercise. The court rejected the defence, finding contradictions in the government’s arguments.

The teachers later sought to enforce the judgement through garnishee proceedings involving United Bank for Africa, First Bank of Nigeria, Fidelity Bank, Zenith Bank and Ecobank.

However, in a ruling delivered on 15 May 2025, another judge J.T. Agbadu-Fishim of the National Industrial Court in Yola struck out a garnishee application filed by the teachers.

The judge found that the affidavit supporting the application had been sworn by a litigation secretary in the law firm representing the teachers. He ruled that this did not comply with Section 83(1) of the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act, rendering the application incompetent.

The court discharged the five banks from those proceedings but did not set aside the 2018 judgement.

It noted that the debt had not been fully paid and that the parties disagreed over the outstanding balance, including previous payments and accrued interest.