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Hon. Justice Zaynab Bashir, PhD, of the Port Harcourt Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court has ordered the Attorney-General of Rivers State, the Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Education, and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, to pay a retired Director, Mr Elechi, the sum of N1.3m representing his outstanding expenses.
Justice Bashir held that Mr Elechi had established his entitlement to reimbursement of monies proved to have been expended on official assignments for the Rivers State Government, and awarded the sum of N500K as general damages in favour of Mr Elechi.
However, the Court dismissed Mr Elechi’s N1.5m claim for accumulated interest, holding that he had failed to establish a contractual, statutory or other legal basis for holding the Attorney-General of Rivers State and 2 others liable for the interest on the loans.
From facts, the claimant, Mr Elechi, a retired Director in the Science and Technical Department of the Rivers State Ministry of Education, had submitted that he was authorised to source funds for the State’s participation in educational programmes and competitions when government funds were unavailable.
He averred that the authorisation arose while he served as Chairman of the Rivers State Branch of the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN).
Mr. Elechi averred he personally sourced and expended N115k on the 2014 STAN Annual Conference, N386k on the 2014 NNPC South-South Zonal Quiz Competition, and N850k on the 2011 NMC/ETF Mathematics Teachers’ Training Programme held in Calabar.
He maintained the Ministry approved reimbursement of the expenses, but the Attorney-General of Rivers State and 2 others paid only N100k, leaving an outstanding balance of N1.3m.
However, the Attorney-General of Rivers State, the Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Education, and the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, failed to enter appearance, file a defence or participate in the proceedings despite service of the originating processes, hearing notices and other court processes.
Counsel to Mr Elechi, N. Omeodu argued the evidence of his client remained unchallenged and uncontroverted, as the Attorney-General of Rivers State and 2 others neither filed a defence nor cross-examined him. He urged the Court to grant the reliefs sought, including reimbursement of the outstanding principal, accumulated interest and general damages.
In a well-considered judgment, Justice Zaynab Bashir emphasised that Mr. Elechi remained under a legal obligation to establish his claims through credible and admissible evidence, notwithstanding the absence of a defence.
The Court stated Mr Elechi had established expenditure on official assignments undertaken for the benefit of the Rivers State Government, and found the outstanding principal balance payable to the Claimant stood at N1.3m.
Justice Bashir reasoned that the assertion of borrowing money and incurring interest was insufficient without satisfactory evidence of the loan terms, applicable interest rates, periods of accrual, and any undertaking by the Attorney-General of Rivers State and 2 others to reimburse the interest.
The Court held that Mr Elechi has established that the Defendants failed to reimburse monies which he expended in the discharge of official assignments, and found that the prolonged withholding of Mr Elechi’s money occasioned financial inconvenience to him, and awarded the sum of N500k as damages.
“However, the Claimant has not placed sufficient evidence before the Court to establish that the Defendants’ conduct occasioned a separate and independently quantifiable loss in the sum of N10,000,000.00. The allegations of embarrassment, hardship and trauma, without further evidence establishing the extent of such loss, do not automatically entitle the Claimant to the entire sum claimed.” Justice Zaynab Bashir ruled.
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