The Presiding Judge of the National Industrial Court, Calabar Judicial Division, Hon. Justice Sanusi Kado, has declared that the refusal and failure of the Nigerian Customs Service Board and Nigeria Customs Service to pay Chief Celestine his accrued pension after 27 years of meritorious service as wrongful and unconstitutional.
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Justice Kado held that Chief Celestine, whose employment was terminated in 1996, had his pension preserved by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1979, which was the constitution in force when Chief Celestine’s appointment was terminated and became eligible to benefit from the pension scheme then in operation.
Justice Kado ordered the Nigerian Customs Service Board and the Nigeria Customs Service to compute and pay to Chief Celestine pension from 20th day of June, 1996 to July, 2014, when the Pension Reforms Act 2014 came into force and took away the responsibility of payment of pension from the Nigerian Customs Service and transferred it to the Pension Transitional Directorate (PTAD).
From facts, the claimant, Chief Celestine, had submitted that he was employed in 1969 and served the Nigeria Customs Service for 27 years until his appointment was terminated in 1996 following disciplinary proceedings on alleged misconduct.
Chief Celestine stated that his right to fair hearing, right against discrimination and his pension provided for by the constitution were denied him and his appointment was wrongfully terminated, and all efforts to address the irregularities by paying his pensions, his withheld salaries, his promotional result and the influence and degrading treatment against him were to no avail.
Chief Celestine averred that although he was suspended and later demoted as punishment, the subsequent termination of his appointment ought not to deprive him of his accrued pension and gratuity, having satisfied the statutory requirement for pensionable service.
In defence, the defendants, the Nigerian Customs Service Board and the Nigeria Customs Service, argued that Chief Celestine’s termination arose from alleged misconduct and that by reason of the disciplinary action taken against him, he was not entitled to a pension.
The Nigerian Customs Service contended that Chief Celestine’s claims were statute-barred except as may relate to pension matters, and urged the Court to dismiss the action.
In opposition, learned counsel to Chief Celestine, Chidi Moses, Esq., stated that pension is a vested right which accrues once the statutory conditions are met and cannot be extinguished by termination unless expressly provided by law.
Counsel reiterated that Chief Celestine had already been punished by suspension and demotion and could not be subjected to double punishment by forfeiture of pension.
Replying on point of law, the Nigerian Customs Service Board maintained that dismissal for misconduct disentitled Chief Celestine from benefiting from the scheme and that no further obligation was owed to him.
In a well-considered judgment, Hon. Justice Sanusi Kado held that the applicable law governing Chief Celestine’s pension was the old pension regime under the Pension Act and not the contributory pension scheme established under the Pension Reform Act 2014.
Justice Sanusi Kado stated that under the applicable pension law, an officer who has served for not less than 15 years is entitled to a pension, and that Chief Celestine, having served for 27 years, clearly met the statutory threshold.
The Court further held that Chief Celestine had already been subjected to disciplinary measures in the form of suspension and demotion, and that termination of his appointment could not operate to deprive him of pension earned over nearly three decades of service.
Justice Kado found that the Nigeria Customs Service failed to establish any statutory provision expressly extinguishing Chief Celestine’s accrued pension rights by reason of his termination.
The Court ordered the Nigerian Customs Service Board and the Nigeria Customs Service to compute and pay Chief Celestine’s pension from 20 June 1996 to July 2014, calculated on his last salary before termination.
The Court held that while pension liability after July 2014 falls within the responsibility of the Pension Transitional Directorate, which was not a party to the suit, the Nigerian Customs Service Board and the Nigeria Customs Service remain liable for the period preceding that transition.
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