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14,000 ex-bank workers drag CBN, NDIC, Finance Minister to court

By on September 23, 2013

Sanusi_Okonjo-IwealaAbout fourteen thousand ex-workers of non-consolidated banks in Nigeria have dragged the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to court over the alleged refusal of concerned authorities to pay them their entitlements.

Also joined in the suit are Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, Ministers of Finance, Labour and Productivity, and the Attorney General of the Federation.

Other defendants in the suit which is pending in the National Industrial Court, Enugu Judicial Division, presided over by Justice A.K Ibrahim include Eco Bank PLC, United Bank for Africa, UBA, AfriBank, now mainstream bank and Zenith Bank.

Through their counsel, the over 10, 000 workers, who sued as the registered trustees of Association of Non-Consolidated Banks, Nigeria, are asking the court to determine “whether having regards to the CBN Guidelines and Incentives on Consolidation in the Nigerian Banking Industry of 5th August 2004, particularly the ‘Social Safety Net’, the claimants are not entitled to be ameliorated and compensated in terms of their terminal benefits, salary arrears and allowances.

“Whether the tacit delay and intractable refusal of the defendants to implement the Social Safety Net and in so doing ameliorate and compensate the claimant job losses and redundancies as enshrined under the Social Safety Net is not tantamount to a denial to perform a statutory duty to a remedy enforceable by an order of mandamus.

“Whether it is proper for the 1st and 2nd respondents (CBN and NDIC) to categorize the claimant’s employers within the meaning of ‘failing banks’ in the light of the provisions of Section 35, 36 and 38 of Banking and other Financial Institutions Act, BOFIA, (Cap B3 LF 2004) and section 494 (1) of Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA, (Cap 59) and in consequence of such classification treat the claimant’s rightful benefit as other creditors”.

Consequently, the ex-workers are seeking from the court a declaration that they are entitled to amelioration and compensation in terms of their terminal benefits, salary arrears and allowances in accordance with the ‘Social Safe Net’ enshrined in the CBN Guidelines and Incentives on consolidation in the Nigeria Banking Industry of 5th August 2004.

Speaking to reporters after the court court session, the counsel to the workers, Emenike Azubuike said all efforts made by his clients to get their benefits without approaching the court proved abortive.

He disclosed that his clients were displaced after the 2005 consolidation exercise carried out by the CBN, adding that all efforts to actualize their benefits have continued to hit brick walls.

Azubuike further disclosed that the workers had written to NDIC, Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity, among others on the issue, saying he was surprised that despite the letters, his clients were yet to be paid.

According to him, the ex- bank workers numbering about 14,000 have been suffering because of the non-payment of their benefits.

In one of his letters to Federal Ministry of Finance dated 13 June 2013, Azubuike had expressed dismay that despite a directive to the ministry from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation to source funds for the payment of the terminal benefits of his clients since April 2012, the ministry had failed to carry out the order.

Earlier before the letter to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Azubuike had told the SGF, Anyim Pius Anyim that ex-staff of 2 out of the 12 banks that were not consolidated in 2005 were paid their terminal benefits in full by former CBN governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo.

The suit has been adjourned to November 7th, 2013 to enable counsel to the claimants, Azubuike respond to the counter affidavits filed by the defendants.