EFCC hands 659 ex-Adamawa school staff ₦1.05bn in recovered entitlements
- The EFCC gave a ₦1,054,919,532.61 bank draft to 659 former Adamawa schools board staff on Thursday.
- The money followed a 2024 petition and a National Industrial Court order the state was said not to have obeyed.
- Their counsel, Luka Musa Haruna, received the draft at the EFCC's Gombe zonal office.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has handed over a bank draft of ₦1,054,919,532.61 to 659 former staff of the Adamawa State Post-Primary Schools Management Board, the commission said on Thursday.
The EFCC's Gombe Zonal Directorate presented the draft as recovered funds for the workers' outstanding entitlements, according to a statement by its spokesman, Dele Oyewale.
For the affected workers, the handover closes a wait that began more than a decade ago, when their appointments were declared illegal. Many have gone years without the pay they say they earned.
How the money was recovered
The EFCC said the case started with a 2024 petition from Abraham B. Song. He alleged that the staff were employed by the Adamawa State Government in 2012 and worked for 29 months in secondary schools across the state.
According to the petitioner, the state government declared their appointments illegal in 2014. The workers then went to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Yola Judicial Division, sitting in Jos, which ordered the state to pay their outstanding entitlements.
The EFCC said the order was allegedly not complied with, leading to garnishee proceedings against the state government's accounts.
During its investigation, the commission said it received intelligence suggesting a risk that the funds could be misapplied. It said it preserved the money pending the outcome of its probe, which led to the recovery and return to the beneficiaries.
The Acting Zonal Director of the Gombe Directorate, Austine Adache, an Assistant Commander of the EFCC, said at the ceremony that the commission remained committed to accountability, justice and returning recovered funds to their rightful owners. He said victims of financial misconduct should get redress in line with the law.
The beneficiaries' counsel, Luka Musa Haruna, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, received the bank draft on their behalf. He thanked the commission for its investigation and said he had always believed in its capacity to fight economic and financial crimes.
Song, whose petition started the case, also praised the EFCC's intervention. He said the recovered money would help ease the financial losses and hardship the workers suffered.
The EFCC did not say in its statement whether anyone has been charged over the funds. The commission's account of the case rests on the petitioner's allegations and its own investigation.
What happens next
The draft now goes to the 659 beneficiaries through their counsel. The EFCC did not give a timeline for when individual workers will be paid.
