Retired Benue teachers march in Makurdi over unimplemented court order

A group of primary school teachers protested in Makurdi over what they describe as the failure of the Benue State Government to implement a court judgment ordering their reinstatement and the payment of outstanding salaries.

The teachers, many of them elderly, marched from Father's Moustache to Doo Park carrying placards. Their case, heard by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria in Makurdi, was decided on 30 April 2024, when the court ordered that the claimants be reinstated, returned to the state payroll and paid the salaries withheld since their compulsory retirement.

The chairman of the group, Dennis Gbande, a teacher under the Guma Local Government Area, said the dispute arose from the federal policy that extended the retirement age of primary and secondary school teachers by five years from January 2021. The 128 affected teachers come from the Makurdi, Guma, Ado, Gwer East, Gwer West and Ogbadibo local government areas. Gbande said a screening exercise was held in March 2024 but none of the teachers was reinstated, and the group is asking the state to either restore them or pay what it owes.