IN THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT OF NIGERIA
IN THE LAGOS JUDICIAL DIVISION
HOLDEN AT LAGOS
BEFORE HIS LORDSHIP HON. JUSTICE J. D. PETERS
DATE: JANUARY 18, 2018
SUIT NO: NICN/LA/151/2013
BETWEEN
- Colonel Michael Olujimi Osisanya (Rtd)
- Colonel Gabriel .O. Emodi (Rtd)
- Lt. Colonel Antonio Abayomi Jorge Ferreira (Rtd) –
- Colonel Sunday Adekunle Majekodunmi (Rtd)
—Claimants
AND
- Ministry of Defence
- Military Pensions Board
- Nigerian Army
———-Defendants
REPRESENTATION
Chukwuyem Atewe with Agnes Usufor for the Claimants
Toyin Bashorun with Kofi Apori for 1st and 2nd Defendants
M.U. Ibrahim with Lema Abina for 3rd Defendant.
JUDGMENT
- Introduction & Claims
The Claimants by their General Form of Complaint dated 21/3/13 approached the Court and sought the following reliefs –
- A declaration that the decision of the Defendants, particularly the Military Pensions Board, to base and continue to base the pensions payable to the Claimants on their terminal ranks in the Army instead of on their Annual Terminal Basic Salaries of a Major General in accordance with the Terms and Conditions for (Officers) Nigerian Army, 1979, ‘Annexe’ A thereof to their disadvantage is unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.
- A declaration that the Claimants are entitled to have their pensions calculated and paid on the basis of their Annual Terminal Basic Salaries of a Major General in accordance with the Terms and Conditions for (Officers) Nigerian Army, 1979, ‘Annexe’ A and Federal Ministry of Establishment and Management Services Circular Reference No. 8.63216/s. 1/x/618 of 13th September 1991.
- An order directing the Defendants to compute and pay to each of the Claimants the shortfalls due to them on their pensions from November 2009 up to date to judgment with interest at a rate not less than 10 per cent until liquidation.
- An order of perpetual injunction restraining the Defendants whether by themselves agents, servants, officers and or privies from continuing to base the pensions payable to the Claimants on their terminal ranks in the Army instead of on their Annual Terminal Basic Salaries of a Major General in accordance with the Terms and Conditions for (Officers) Nigerian Army, 1979, ‘Annexe’ A thereof to their disadvantage.
The Claimants filed along with their Complaint their witness statements on oath, list of witness as well as list and copies of documents to be relied on at trial. 1st and 2nd Defendants filed their joint statement of defence on 12/5/15 including its witness statement on oath, list of witnesses, list and copies of documents to be relied on at trial. On 4/3/16, the 3rd Defendant filed its statement of defence along with all processes as required by the Rules of Court. Subsequently, the Claimant filed reply to the statements of defence filed by the defendants.
- Case of the Claimants
The Claimants opened their case on 16/9/15 and called the 1st Claimant as CW1. CW1 adopted witness depositions dated 21/3/13 and 10/3/16 as his evidence in chief and tendered 9 documents as exhibits. CW1 also adopted his further witness statement on oath dated 10/3/16 as his his further evidence. The documents were admitted in evidence and marked as Exh. MOO1 – Exh. MOO9. It is the case of the Claimants that the 1st Claimant was a Commissioned Officer in the Nigerian Army Medical Corps who voluntarily retired from the Nigerian Army as a Colonel/Chief Consultant Dental Surgeon in July 1991; that the 1st Claimant was enlisted into the Nigerian Army as a Cadet Officer on the 30th of October, 1967 and commissioned as a Lieutenant on the 8th day of June, 1972; that the 2nd Claimant was a Commissioned Officer in the Nigerian Army Medical Corps who voluntarily retired from the Nigerian Army as a Colonel/Chief Consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist in September 1988; that the 2nd Claimant was commissioned on the 20/10/65; that the 3rd Claimant was a Commissioned Officer in the Nigerian Army Medical Corps, who voluntarily retired from the Nigerian Army as a Lieutenant Colonel/Chief Consultant Surgeon in October, 1983; that the 3rd Claimant was commissioned on the 27/7/67 though he proceeded on Terminal Leave in October, 1983 his voluntary retirement took effect from the 30/1/70; that the 4th Claimant was a Commissioned Officer in the Nigerian Army Medical Corps who voluntarily retired from the Nigerian Army as a Colonel and as a Chief Consultant Public Health on 30/9/88 and that the 4th Claimant was commissioned on the 15/4/68.
It is the case of the Claimants that on the 1st day of September, 1979 while the Claimants were still in the service of the Defendants, the Defendants made effective the Terms and Conditions for (Officers) Nigerian Army, 1979; that under the said “Terms and Conditions for (Officers) Nigerian Army, 1979 all medical officers who become Chief Consultants are automatically paid the same Annual Basic Salary as Major Generals in accordance with the Salary Scale applicable to all officers in Annex A thereof; that they all became Chief Consultants at different dates as duly published by the Army Council of the 3rd Defendant; that their appointments as Chief Consultants were published for the Claimants respectively as dated below; that upon their becoming Chief Consultants in their various area of specialization the Nigerian Army Pay Corps complied with the Terms and Conditions for (Officers) Nigerian Army, 1979 and paid to them until they left the 3rd Defendant salaries of Chief Consultants which ranked with salary payable to Major General though they wore their own ranks of Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels respectively; that in May 1991 the monthly basic pay of a Major General in the Army was =N=2,250.00 and those of them who were still in the service were also paid the same =N=2,250.00; that with the exception of the 3rd
