CBN Pensioners’ Suit: Court Adjourns Hearing to October 15

Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court in Lagos has adjourned until October 15, 2026, further hearing in a suit filed by pensioners of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) over the implementation of judgments on their retirement benefits.

The pensioners are seeking enforcement of previous court judgments concerning the harmonisation of their retirement benefits under a 1997 Federal Government policy.

They alleged that the CBN had failed to fully implement the pension adjustments and pay arrears arising from the judgments.

At the resumed hearing, another group of CBN pensioners filed an application seeking to be joined as parties to the suit.

The applicants alleged that they were excluded from a 15 per cent pension increase approved by the Federal Government after refusing to accept a disputed out-of-court settlement agreement presented by the CBN.

They also claimed that several of the original litigants had died or become elderly without receiving their full entitlements.

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Justice Owoeye, however, informed the parties that he would not entertain any contentious matter at the sitting and adjourned the case to October 15, 2026.

The pensioners were represented by a legal team led by Adebayo Oyagbola and E. Oghagbon, while the CBN and other defendants were represented by E. Omoboriowo, Ekuma Chinanso and another counsel.

The pensioners had previously secured judgments in their favour at the Federal High Court in 2000, the Court of Appeal in 2006 and the Supreme Court in 2010.

Following what they described as repeated unsuccessful attempts to secure compliance with the judgments, the pensioners commenced enforcement proceedings against the CBN in 2022, alleging that the bank had failed to comply with the court orders.

The CBN has maintained that it complied with the judgments and challenged the legal standing of the pensioners to institute the enforcement proceedings. The apex bank subsequently filed a preliminary objection.

During the enforcement proceedings, the court issued subpoenas directing the CBN to produce documents relating to pension payments and reviews.

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The pensioners later alleged that the bank failed to comply with the subpoenas, prompting the court to make contempt orders against the CBN. The bank appealed against the proceedings and the contempt orders.

While the appeal was pending before the Court of Appeal, the CBN reportedly presented a “Settlement Agreement” to the pensioners.

According to the group seeking to be joined in the suit, the agreement required pensioners to acknowledge the CBN’s alleged compliance with the earlier judgments and excluded those who refused to accept the agreement from a subsequent 15 per cent pension increase.

The matter was eventually remitted to the Federal High Court for consideration of the CBN’s preliminary objection.

The new group of pensioners subsequently applied to be joined in the proceedings, asking the court to determine whether the CBN’s actions regarding the disputed settlement agreement were lawful and consistent with the subsisting judgments.

They also want the court to determine whether it was lawful to require pensioners to acknowledge compliance with previous judgments as a condition for benefiting from subsequent pension reviews, and whether those who declined to make such an acknowledgment could legally be excluded from the reviews.

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