Following a court judgment in favour of retirees of the popular Hill Station Hotel Jos, all moveable property of the hotel, were on Friday taken away to the Industrial Court Jos, as ordered by the court.

Hill Station Hotel is one of the early hospitality centres in the State, it commence operation in 1934 and remained a major player in the hospitality industry for decades.

However, for over a decade, the hotel became a shadow of itself -operating skeletally and unable to maintain its overall competitiveness.

Counsel to the retirees of the Hotel, Linus Shingshak who spoke to journalists as moveable properties of the Hotel were taken away, said, “Last year precisely in December, about 19 Retirees of Hill Station

Hotel Jos, took the hotel to court because of several issues, including unfair dismissal, non payment of severance packages etc. “After instituting an action at the National Industrial Court, favourable judgement was returned in the favour of the workers.

The Counsel maintained that, they had earlier gotten a similar judgment at the Federal High, but the management of the hotel refuse to cooperate in line with the ruling.

“So presently we are executing the judgment that was obtained last year at the National Industrial Court.

“As you can see we are together with the officials. We do not have the power to enforce the judgment on our own, its caution to the order of court, that is why we are here, we are protected by the court. It is the court that is enforcing the judgment on behalf of the judgment creditors.

Speaking further, he said “The issue of enforcement is governed by the Sheriffs and civil processes act. Since we have sealed and removed the properties, it is left for us to apply to the National Industrial Court for the sale of the attached properties.

He further explain that, if after they have sold the moveable properties and the amount realised does not reach expected amount, they will have no option but to sale the rest of the immovable structures, including the buildings.

Giving an estimate of the amount secured by the judgment for the retirees, Shingshak said, “To the best of my knowledge it is in the region of N90 to N100 million, that is the judgment obtained by our own law firm”.

Some of the retirees Thomas Agile, Abdul Mukaila among others, who spoke to Viewpointnigeria lamented that they have been retired for over four years, but were yet to receive any benefits.

Godwin Okoh, a retiree of Hill Station Hotel Jos

Oko Godwin a 63 year old retiree said, “I worked here for over 22 years, but after I retired in 2010, I did not receive any retirement benefits.

“My children have to drop out of school, because I cannot pay their school fees, as I speak to you I’m very ill but cannot afford any medication or hospital attention in fact, some of my colleagues who retired a few years before me have died because of the deplorable situation they found themselves.

“So we thank the court and pray that funds raised from the sale of the properties will help alleviate our suffering. He stressed.

Investigation by ViewPointNigeria also, indicates that workers of the hotel are being owed 20 months salary amongst other sundry arrears.

Reacting to the court order, General Manager of the Hotel, Mildred Best, said, “I’m surprise at this ruling. There are several nuance cases of staff who retired voluntarily to seek greener pastures elsewhere, because the hotel was struggling.  “To our surprise and dismay, they went to court and they were granted favourable judgment. Even when the judgment was granted, we tried to talk with their lawyers to see how we can pay installmentally, because the Hotel was not doing well, and we agreed with our own lawyer that we are going to file a motion for installmental payment of N500, 000 monthly. We started that last week. So I’m surprised to come and see this, because we were given receipt for the N500, 000 paid. She lamented.

“I expect that if their Counsel is refusing to take that agreement,  he would not have received the N500, 000 in the first place, so i’ m surprise to see them packing our things.

Mildred also confirmed that it was true that staff of the hotel are being owed 20 months salaries, but blamed that on poor patronage, due the civil unrest that has bedeviled Jos and environs.

As at the time of filing this report all moveable properties of the hotel have been taken to the court (the packing was supervised by armed policemen).

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Hill Station Hotel Jos, may be sold to settle N100 million retiree benefits