Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court in Lagos has adjourned further hearing in a suit by Central Bank of Nigeria pensioners over unpaid retirement benefits to October 15, 2026.
The adjournment came at the resumed hearing on thursday after another group of CBN pensioners applied to be joined as parties in the case. The applicants said they had been left out of a 15 per cent pension increase approved by the Federal Government because they refused to accept a disputed out-of-court settlement agreement offered by the CBN.
They also told the court that several of the original litigants had died or grown elderly without receiving their full entitlements.
Justice Owoeye informed the parties that he would not entertain any contentious matter and fixed the next hearing for October 15.
The pensioners are seeking enforcement of earlier judgments on the harmonisation of their retirement benefits under a 1997 Federal Government policy. They claim the CBN has failed to fully implement the pension adjustments and arrears ordered by the courts.
They won judgments at the Federal High Court in 2000, the Court of Appeal in 2006 and the Supreme Court in 2010. After years of unsuccessful efforts to secure compliance, they began enforcement proceedings against the CBN in 2022.
The apex bank has maintained that it complied with the judgments and challenged the pensioners’ right to bring the enforcement action. It filed a preliminary objection that remains pending.
During the enforcement process, the court issued subpoenas requiring the CBN to produce documents on pension payments and reviews. The pensioners alleged the bank failed to comply, leading to contempt orders. The CBN appealed those orders.
While the appeal was pending, the bank presented a settlement agreement that, according to the group seeking joinder, required pensioners to acknowledge the CBN’s compliance with the earlier judgments. Those who refused the agreement were excluded from the subsequent 15 per cent increase, the applicants said.
The matter was later returned to the Federal High Court for determination of the CBN’s preliminary objection. At that stage the separate group of pensioners applied to join the proceedings. Among other reliefs, they want the court to decide whether the settlement agreement and the exclusion of non-signatories from later pension reviews were lawful and consistent with the existing judgments.
Adebayo Oyagbola and E. Oghagbon led the legal team for the pensioners. E. Omoboriowo, Ekuma Chinanso and another counsel appeared for the CBN and the other defendants.
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