The Presiding Judge, Yola Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court has ordered Adamawa State Government and its Attorney-General to immediately pay retiree Comfort Sanga the liquidated sum of N1,583,553.81 (One Million, Five Hundred and Eighty-Three Thousand, Five Hundred and Fifty-Three Naira, Eighty-One Kobo) outstanding gratuity due, N246,335.95 (Two hundred and Forty-Six Thousand, Three Hundred and Thirty-Five Naira, Ninety Five Kobo) accrued unpaid seven months pension.

The Court also awarded the sum of N500,000 as general damages for the trauma, distress and breach of obligations, and N500,000 cost of action against the Adamawa State Government and its Attorney-General in favour of Comfort Sanga.

Justice Fishim stated that Comfort Sanga, who put in 35 years in service of the Adamawa State Government and retired and her pensions withheld for seven months without any justification and her gratuity remained unpaid despite demand but made to go through the rigor of litigation as a senior citizen of this Country and more so the unfair labour practice of unwritten policy of the State Government is entitled to general damages.

From facts, the Claimant- Comfort Sanga had submitted that she was employed by the Adamawa State Government by a Letter dated 22nd May 1989 as a Civil Servant and served the Defendants till her retirement on 28th November 2021, a period of 35 years of meritorious service.

Comfort Sanga averred that by a letter dated 3rd March 2022, the Adamawa State Civil Service Commission approved her retirement from the services of the State Government and upon her retirement, the Adamawa State Pension Board availed her a copy of a document dated 2nd June 2022 which is a Computation of Retirement Benefit stating her entitlement to the sum of N1,583,553.81 as gratuity.

Comfort further posited that payment of her monthly pension should have commenced from December 2021 but the Adamawa State Government only commenced the payment in June 2022, thereby leading to an accrued outstanding of N246,335.95 due to her and all efforts to get her entitlements to no avail.

In defence, the defendant- Adamawa State Government and its Attorney-General maintained that payment for backlog of pension arrears has since commenced and is in progress based on retirement date, that the next scheduled to receive payments are those retirees for July 2021 while the Comfort retirement date was November 2021.

Adamawa State Government and its Attorney-General contended that Comfort who claimed to have suffered trauma, distress and thus general damages of N5 million did not place any material evidence or expert witness to substantiate the allegations of trauma, distress and breach of obligations., and urged the Court to dismiss the case in its entirety.

In opposition, Comfort’s Counsel, BALA SANGA ESQ argued that the defence of queue policy erected by the Adamawa State Government was not substantiated as there was no such circular in existence. Learned Counsel argued that given the fact that Comfort, a retiree with no means traversed Gombe to Yola with Counsel, seeking the payment of her gratuity, whereas the gratuity ought to have been paid by the State Government since 2022, and in the face of the dwindled value of Naira, urged the Court to award general damages.

In a well-considered judgment, the Presiding Judge, Justice James Agbadun-Fishim held that the Adamawa State Government and its Attorney-General failed to provide evidence in proof of their assertion that all serving or retired employees who have satisfied the requirements and are entitled to be paid have been receiving their payments in accordance to the laid down procedure goes to no issue and deemed abandoned.

The Court stated that the Adamawa State Government and its Attorney-General did not tender any documentary evidence of such policy document of the State Government to substantiate the existence of same and the applicability of same to Comfort in the instant case.

Justice Fishim stated that Comfort Sanga, who put in 35 years in service of the Adamawa State Government and retired and her pensions withheld for seven months without any justification and her gratuity remained unpaid despite demand but made to go through the rigor of litigation as a senior citizen of this Country and more so the unfair labour practice of unwritten policy of the State Government is entitled to general damages.