Bomba Dauda
Hon. Justice S.O Adeniyi of the National Industrial Court Of Nigeria sitting in Kaduna, Wednesday, declared the action of the Kaduna State Government in reducing the Pension of retired Secretaries to State Government, Heads of Service and Permanent Secretaries as draconian, in bad faith and unconstitutional, it therefore Ordered the Kaduna State Government to forthwith pay them the difference in their monthly pension commencing from the month of March, 2020.
Counsel to the claimants, Barr. Sam Atung (Esq.), said: “The decision of Governor Nasiru El-rufai was predicated on a circular it issued to the effect that it now considers Rtd. Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Service and Secretaries to government as political appointees who are not subject to compulsory retirement at the age of 60 years or completion of 35 years in service and that they are not entitled to 100% of their annual salary for life as pension.
The Claimants contend that the Kaduna State Pension Bureau had produced a table of summary of retired permanent secretaries by which reductions were effected to their monthly pension.
“The decision was challenged based on the clear provision of section 210 of the 1999 constitution as amended, which guarantees pension rights. Fortunately for us today, the National Industrial Court, in its wisdom, delivered a judgment in favour of the claimants wherein it upheld all our submissions and granted all the reliefs claimed by the claimants. The state government was ordered to forthwith pay the claimants the difference in their monthly pension from the month of March, 2020 to date and also issued a perpetual injunction restraining the KDSG or any of its agencies from acting in any manner whatsoever that is prejudicial to the claimant right to pension,” he said.
In retrospect, Retired Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Service in Kaduna state sued Governor Nasiru El-rufai of Kaduna state, in May, 2020 about 71 retired Secretaries to State Government, Head of Service and Permanent Secretaries at the National Industrial Court, NIC, over the deduction of their pension, the deduction started in March, 2020 without any prior notice.
