The National Industrial Court, Calabar Judicial Division, has held that the refusal of the Nigerian Customs Service Board and the Nigeria Customs Service to pay accrued pension to Chief Celestine, who served for 27 years before his termination in 1996, is wrongful and unconstitutional.
Delivering judgment, Hon. Justice Sanusi Kado ruled that Celestine’s pension rights were preserved under the 1979 Constitution, which was the operative law at the time of his termination. The Court ordered the Customs Service to compute and pay his pension from 20 June 1996 to July 2014, when the Pension Reform Act 2014 transferred pension liabilities to the Pension Transitional Directorate (PTAD).
From the facts, Celestine was employed in 1969 and served until his termination in 1996 following disciplinary proceedings. He argued that although he had been suspended and later demoted, the subsequent termination could not extinguish his accrued pension rights, having satisfied the statutory requirement for pensionable service.
In defence, the Customs Service contended that his dismissal for misconduct disentitled him from pension benefits and urged the Court to dismiss the action. However, Justice Kado held that under the applicable pension regime, any officer who served for not less than 15 years was entitled to pension. Having served for 27 years, Celestine clearly met the statutory threshold.
The Court further held that disciplinary measures already imposed; suspension and demotion, could not operate as double punishment through forfeiture of pension. It found no statutory provision expressly extinguishing Celestine’s accrued pension rights by reason of termination.
Accordingly, the Court directed the Customs Service Board and the Nigeria Customs Service to compute and pay his pension based on his last salary before termination, covering the period up to July 2014.
