The Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt has directed the Rivers State Government to pay the teachers of Demonstration Secondary School, Ignatius Ajuru University of (IAUOE) their almost 10 years outstanding salaries from February 2016 until the judgement is fully complied with.

The court’s three-member panel upheld the decision of the National Industrial Court, which in 2018, called the stoppage of the teachers’ salaries unlawful.

The management of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education stopped paying the salaries of 97 teachers attached to the Demonstration Secondary School in 2016 following Governor Nyesom Wike directive to discontinue paying their salaries.

The affected teachers, who pleaded with the school’s management approached the National Industrial Court, which declared the stoppage of their salaries unlawful, noting that they remained employees of the institution.

The National Industrial Court had in 2018, ruled that the stoppage of the teachers’ salaries was unlawful and affirmed that the affected teachers remained employees of the institution.

But the lower court didn’t direct Rivers government to pay the teachers their outstanding salaries, citing differences in salary structures and allowances among the claimants, noting that they amounted to special damages.

The Rivers government had appealed the judgement at the Court of Appeal in 2018, while the affected teachers filed a cross-appeal challenging the refusal of the lower court to compel the payment of their accumulated salaries.

Counsel to the affected teachers, Emeka Dite Ojoko, shortly after the judgement told journalists that the Appeal Court, upheld the cross-appeal filed by the teachers and dismissed the state government’s case.