Ten Thousand Bankers sues CBN over pay
Over ten thousand (10,000) former staff members, of non-consolidated banks in Nigeria, have dragged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to court following refusal of concerned authorities to pay them their entitlements.
The aggrieved ex-bank staff members 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 case is currently pending in the National Industrial Court, Enugu Judicial Division, presided over by Justice A.K Ibrahim
Also joined in the suit apart from the CBN, are the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, (NDIC), Ministers of Finance, Labour and Productivity, and the Attorney General of the Federation. Others are Ecobank Plc, United Bank for Africa (UBA), AfriBank now Mainstreet Bank, and Zenith Bank.
They want the court to determine whether 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 categorise 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”, the former workers queried.
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 Safety Net’ enshrined in the CBN Guidelines and Incentives on consolidation in the Nigeria Banking Industry of August, 5, 2004.
Counsel to the workers, Emenike Azubuike, told newsmen after the court session that all efforts made by his clients to get their benefits without approaching the court proved abortive.
According to him, his clients were displaced after the 2005 consolidation exercise carried out by the CBN, adding that all efforts to actualise 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.
The suit has been adjourned to November 7, 2013 to enable counsel to the claimants, Azubuike respond to the counter affidavits filed by the defendants.
