902 ex-employees sue bank over N75.7bn unremitted pension
By Adebisi Onanuga
Nine hundred and two retired staff of Union Bank Plc have sued the bank before the National Industrial Court (NICN), Lagos over alleged non-remittance of their pension benefits worth over N76.7billion.
Two of the pensioners, Sanyaolu Sulaimon and Mkpa Jacob filed the suit on behalf of themselves and the 900 others before Justice Mustapha Tijjani.
They claimed that the bank since 2008 failed to transfer the actual amount in their Legacy Pension Fund to their retirement savings accounts domiciled with the appropriate pension fund administrators.
They are, therefore, seeking a declaration of the court that the bank breached the provisions of the Pension Reforms Act, 2004 and 2014 by failing to transfer the legacy pension funds to their respective pension funds administrators.
They are also seeking an order compelling the bank to pay accrued sum of about N13.7 billion of the unpaid fund to the law firm of their lawyer, Monday Ubani (Ubani & Co) and another N2 billion as general damages for delayed remittances and transfers, malicious intentions, illegal and unlawful withholding of pension funds.
According to the claimants in their averments, some of the claimants’ whose pension funds were unjustly denied and refused are now deceased and have been unable to enjoy the retirement benefits.
The claimants averred that the problem started after PenCom declined to give approval to Union Pension Scheme.
They claimed that as a result of the defendant’s failure to meet the terms and conditions for the grant of Pension Funds Custodian Licence and subsequent decline to grant the said licence; the bank then decided to discontinue the in-house pension scheme as allowed by law and allowed the claimants and other members of staff of the defendant to choose their individual Pension Funds Administrators to which their future contribution will be transferred
The claimants further averred that after their actuarial valuation was computed by H.R Nigeria Limited in 2008, the bank fraudulently transferred only the fixed assets of the legacy funds to the two pension funds administrators, viz, Premium Pensions and AIICO Pensions respectively holding back the liquid assets of the legacy pension.
They averred that from the expiration of the said Pension Reforms Act of 2004 window in July 2007, only the mandatory monthly contributions contributed by both the claimants and the bank under the Contributory Pension Scheme were fully remitted to their pension funds administrators.
They further claimed that the defendant finally stopped the operation of the in-house pension scheme in January 2013 based on misrepresented pretense that the full and final legacy pension funds of the claimants had been transferred to their respective pension funds administrators, while it was not so.
According to the claimants, following the said illegality, the pension funds administrators created new monthly pension templates with the under remitted legacy pension funds which could no longer equate previously earned monthly pension of retirees by over 70 per cent and the shortfall cuts across all the claimants.
The claimants equally averred that it is not in the interest and spirit of the Pension Reforms Act 2004 and 2014 as amended that the pension of retired workers should be reduced or recouped in retrospect as done by the defendant; which reduced and depleted the actual pension earnings rightfully accruable and earned by them.
The claimants also averred that the bank after making a huge pension provision of N80.838billion in her annual accounts of 2009; which was meant basically to finally settle the lingering legacy pension debt, still failed to credit the full value of the legacy pension funds to the individual retirement savings accounts despite the huge provisions made.
The defendant, having been served, is yet to respond to the claims. Justice Tijjani has adjourned the suit until February 10, 2020.
– The Nation
