Over 300 staff of CBN was disengaged in 1999, and since then have not received their pension due to the refusal of the bank to comply with the pension harmonisation policy of 1997. CBN was dragged to court. Recently, the apex bank opted to meet the pensioners for possible settlement out of court. Is the meeting going to be a reprieve? Senior Correspondent, JUDE KENNETH, writes
About 300 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) pensioners may heave a sigh of relief following the apex bank’s invitation to them for a dialogue on the best possible way of resolving the dispute that has lingered in court for over 15 years.
About 500 staff of CBN were disengaged in 1999 but since then, over 300 of them have not been paid any amount as pension.
According to a representative of the pensioners (plaintiffs), many of the staff disengaged in 1999 have died without getting their pension. Some are seriously sick while old age has taken toll on almost all of them.
The resolve of CBN to invite the pensioners for a meeting may be the willingness of the new leadership of the bank to comply with the court order and withdraw from dissipating its resources to continue the legal battle in which judgment was earlier given by a Federal High Court in favour of the pensioners, but the then leadership of the bank refused to comply with the decision of the court.
James Jemilo, one of the representatives of the pensioners, expressed the willingness of his colleagues to attend the meeting at any time they are invited, hoping that the meeting will be fruitful, so that their suffering will be reduced. He said they are the breadwinners of their various families, adding that their disengagement and the refusal of CBN to pay them their pension as stipulated in the harmonisation policy, which became effective in 1997, two years before they were disengaged.
The failure of their former employers to pay their pension prompted them to institute a suit against the bank. In the suit number FHC/L/CS524/99 in which the pensioners were represented by James Jemilo, Thompson Edun, Jacob Amao, and Joachim Ajala, they alleged that CBN failed to comply with the pension harmonisation policy enacted in 1997, averring that the harmonisation policy was introduced in the public service with effect from January 1, 1997.
In their claims, they averred thus: “The policy was designed to eliminate the disparities in the pensions of workers who retired on the same grade, with those who served the same number of years but retired at different times.”
In the reliefs sought, they prayed the court to compel the CBN to comply with the federal government’s directive on pension harmonisation. But in its defence, the CBN said it could only pay the harmonised pension, subject to “affordability and sustainability” of pension funds.
However, in 2000, then Justice Wilson Egbo-Egbo’s judgment granted the reliefs sought by the pensioners and directed CBN to pay the applicants all accrued pensions with effect from January 1, 1997, on emoluments currently earned by their serving counterparts.
The judge had further held that the federal government prescribed the policy on harmonisation of pensions, adding that such accrued pensions were to be paid subsequently, as and when due.
Dissatisfied with the Federal High Court’s judgment, CBN had appealed its decision before the Court of Appeal, and later the Supreme Court, but both courts affirmed the decision of the lower court, on December 5, 2006 and May 21, 2010.
The plaintiffs submitted that after the Supreme Court’s judgment, CBN slightly enhanced the pension arrears of about 1,604 pensioners who retired before June 1, 2000 out of 5,000 eligible pensioners, stressing that the CBN did not fully comply with the court’s judgement despite several letters written to it by the counsel to regularise the anomaly.
The alleged failure or refusal of the apex bank to comply with the court’s decision prompted the plaintiffs to initiate a contempt proceeding against the bank and other defendants in November 2013 before Justice Saliu Saidu of the Federal High Court, Lagos.
The pensioners had filled both Form 48 (notice of consequence of disobedience to court order) and Form 49 (notice to show cause why order of attachment and committal should not be made against the CBN, Deputy Governor Corporate Services, Suleiman Barau; Director Human Resources, Chizoba Mojekwu; and Director of Legal Services, Simon Onekutu; who are listed as contemnors).
When the case was mentioned on the last sitting, the pensioners’ counsel, Tani Molajo (SAN), informed the court that there was a new development in the suit, submitting that he had the instruction of his clients to seek the leave of court to withdraw the present contempt proceedings.
He informed the court that pursuant to the instruction, he had filed a motion on notice dated October 28, seeking leave to withdraw the suit, so that parties may have the opportunity to explore settlement options. He further told the court that he had served an advance copy of the application on the counsel to the contemnors, and prayed the court for leave to move the motion.
When the judge asked CBN counsel, Tunde Olojo, to respond, he confirmed to the court that he was officially served with the processes about 3.34pm the previous day and informed the court of his clients’ move to invite the plaintiffs for a meeting to resolve the issue out of court, adding that he had no objection to the motion.
Consequently, Justice Saidu urged the plaintiffs’ counsel to move his motion for withdrawal, which he did, and the court struck out the contempt proceeding against the CBN and others to pave way for amicable settlement of the dispute.
