Hon. President of the National Industrial Court, Hon. Justice Benedict Kanyip, PhD, OFR has declared that Dr Christopher’s due date of compulsory retirement from the service of the National Assembly Service Commission as a Director in line with the Revised Public Service Rules, 2021 as applicable to the National Assembly Service Commission is 1st January 2026 and not 1st January 2025.
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The Court declared that 1 January 2017, being Dr Christopher’s notional promotion date as a Director, cannot be factored in for the purpose of calculating Eight (8) years tenure policy with respect to his compulsory retirement date as provided under the Revised Public Service Rules as applicable to the National Assembly Service Commission.
Justice Kanyip set aside the purported retirement letter dated 8/10/2024 issued by the National Assembly Service Commission, for being contrary to the Revised Public Service Rules 2021, as applicable to the Commission.
The Court granted an order restraining the National Assembly Service Commission and Clerk to the National Assembly, either by themselves, servants, surrogates, agents, or howsoever called, from compulsorily retiring Dr Christopher from service at any date other than or earlier than 1 January 2026.
From facts, the claimant, Dr Christopher, had submitted that he got a Director promotion letter dated 3/7/2018 and was backdated to take effect from 1/1/2017, but his financial benefits to the post of Director were to take effect from 1/1/2018.
Dr Christopher averred that, since the financial benefits of his promotion, having commenced from 1/1/2018, the computation of his retirement date in line with the Revised Public Service Rule, 2021 ought to have commenced from the date his financial benefits as a Director took effect, thereby challenging the letter of his retirement date dated 1/1/2025 instead of 1/1/2026.
Dr Christopher submitted that for the 8-year compulsory retirement rule enshrined in the Public Service Rules to apply to any Director, it is the date of his actual promotion that would be reckoned with and not the date of his notional promotion.
In defence, the 1st defendant- National Assembly Service Commission emphasised that promotion is not just about financial benefit, as it also has to do with seniority in rank and position, which elicits privileged treatment, that the conditions of service of the National Assembly Service Commission have given cognisance to notional promotion, and Dr Christopher has enjoyed it.
The National Assembly Service Commission averred that it will be inequitable, having enjoyed some benefits, to deny the said benefits because it does not attract direct financial backing, and that labour relations are not just about financial benefits. It also has to do with perquisites, seniority and standing in line of succession.
The Clerk to the National Assembly posited that the eight (8) years count from the cumulative number of years from when the office of a Director is deemed to run on the post, and this case includes the period of notional promotion, so that the retirement of Dr Christopher remains valid and is not premature.
The 2nd defendant- Clerk to the National Assembly averred that the promotion was not done maliciously to retire Dr Christopher. In fact, it was done to give him better chances of advancements, appointments and perquisites of office, most of which he enjoyed.
In opposition, Dr Christopher counsel posited that there is no scintilla of evidence adduced by the National Assembly Service Commission before the Court to prove the benefits enjoyed by the claimant from his notional promotion, and urged the Court to grant the reliefs sought.
In a well-considered Judgement, the Hon. President, Justice Kanyip, held that the National Assembly Service Commission and its Clerk’s assertion that the claimant benefited from the post of Director is one made without proof.
Justice Kanyip reiterated that the 8-year tenure policy applies only to Directors who have actually spent eight years on the post, not notionally as provided under the Public Service Rules.
The Court clearly ruled that those on notional promotion, not enjoying any financial benefit from the notional promotion, cannot be said to have been promoted to their benefit, that where an employer wants to factor the period of notional promotion for purposes of applying the 8-year tenure rule, it must have borne the full financial burden of the promotion by paying all salaries and allowances inuring to the employee for the period of the notional promotion.
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