Industrial Court Dismisses ₦17m Employment Claim Against Oyo State Water Corporation as Statute-Barred
Hon. Justice Yakubu Hassan of the Ibadan Division of the National Industrial Court has dismissed the suit filed by Mrs. Oluyemisi Asunmo against the Water Corporation of Oyo State, the Attorney‑General and Commissioner for Justice, and the Oyo State Pensions Board. The Court held that the action was statute‑barred under the Limitation Law of Oyo State and therefore outside its jurisdiction.
The claimant, who joined the Water Corporation in 1977 and rose to Senior Store Officer before her suspension in August 2000, sought declaratory and monetary reliefs exceeding ₦17 million. She argued that her suspension without pay for over twelve years was unlawful, and demanded accumulated salaries, allowances, gratuity, pension arrears, and damages. She maintained that despite being discharged and acquitted of misconduct charges, and the dismissal of the appeal against her acquittal, the Corporation failed to reinstate her or pay her entitlements until she retired in 2012.
The defendants countered that she absconded from duty, ignored official communications, and that her suit filed in 2017 was well beyond the statutory five‑year limitation period. Counsel for the claimant argued that the cause of action accrued only after the dismissal of the criminal appeal in 2017, but the Court rejected this position.
In a considered judgment, Justice Hassan ruled that the cause of action arose in 2012 upon her retirement, not in 2017, and that filing the suit five years later rendered it statute‑barred. The Court emphasized that once an action is caught by limitation, “no matter how promising the case may appear, it is dead and buried forever.” The judge further clarified that pending criminal proceedings did not preclude her from instituting civil proceedings concurrently.
The suit was dismissed in its entirety, with each party ordered to bear its own costs.
