Justice Nelson Ogbuanya sitting in Port-Harcourt division of the National Industrial Court (NIC) has granted an order of mandamus, directing the National Pension Commission (PenCom) and the Nigeria Police Force Pensions Ltd., to furnish police pensioners, within one month, the detailed template used in calculating and paying their pension category as retirees of the Nigerian Police Force.

They filed the action challenging the failure of the defendants to provide them with template and details of calculation of their gratuity and pension payments, which they alleged to be inaccurate and marred with observable anomalies and shrouded in secrecy.

The judge further ordered the Nigeria Police Force Pensions Ltd, being a Pension Fund Administrator, licensed and operating under the Pension Reform Act upon receipt of the said template from PenCom, to use it and work out the detailed percentage of the applicants’ accrued gratuity and pension benefits.

The court added that the template must indicate the formulae of how each of the retired police officers’ pension and gratuity benefits were calculated with payments made or due, and furnish same to them through their Solicitors (Ola Faro, Esq of Afe Babalola Chambers), within three months, while copies of the said template and calculations shall be filed in the casefile for record of compliance.

Justice Ogbuanya held that the 1999 Constitution (as amended) guarantees the retired officers’ entitlement to pension and gratuity, and thus, they can lawfully demand for the template used in calculating their pension and gratuity, particularly when there are complaints of discrepancies and errors, resulting in underpayment and short-changes, and awarded the sum of N1m each against the 1st and 2nd respondents, in favour of the applicants as cost of action.

In defence, PenCom challenged the jurisdiction of the court on the ground of alleged incompetence of the suit for being filed outside three months statutory period stipulated under the Public Officers Protection Act (POPA), and being academic as the applicants have been paid their terminal benefits, and an explanation was earlier made to them as they requested.

The Nigeria Police Force Pensions Ltd contended that an order of mandamus cannot be made against her, not being a public body, but a limited liability company incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) by the Corporate Affairs Commission, and urged the court to strike out its name and award a punitive cost of N50 million, against the applicants.

In a well-considered judgment, justice Ogbuanya after careful evaluation of the matter affirmed the jurisdiction of the Court and dismissed the objection for lacking merit, and held that from the facts, the date of commencement of the suit was just barely one month of the cause of action, and certainly far within the three month-period provided for by both the POPA and Judicial Review Rules of the Court, adding that POPA is not applicable to employment- related claims.

The court further held that PenCom, who is laced with the statutory authority to take charge and render effective service in supervision of the use of appropriate Template for calculating pensioners’ terminal benefits cannot shy away by shifting the responsibility to the Police Force Pensions Ltd who apparently is not much trusted by the applicants.

Justice Ogbuanya ruled that the failure of PenCom to attach the pension and gratuity template and formulae in their response letters entitle the applicants to seek legal redress in his court, by way of judicial review for an order of mandamus directing them to furnish them with the said template to aid their enquiry over the acute shortfall and discrepancies in the payment of their pension and gratuity earnings.

Justice Ogbuanya while agreeing with the stance taken by the Police Force Pensions Ltd that it cannot be issued with an order of mandamus, not being a public body, however held that the Police Force Pensions Ltd performs statutory duty under the Pension Reform Act, and therefore a necessary party to this suit, and appropriate orders can be made against it.