Why was PenCom sued by its Staff, Are they really PenCom Staff, Why were they not paid
The issue that lead to some PenCom staff suing PenCom was made public around mid 2018 but it is directly linked to the change of leadership in the National Pension Commission (PenCom) by the Federal Government in April 2017.
The Federal Government of Nigeria in April 2017 sacked the Director General, Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu and Board members of the National Pension Commission (PenCom), and Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, being the most senior staff, was then appointed as the Acting Director General of the National Pension Commission (PenCom).
In August 2018, there was a protest by the Nigerian Youth for Change on suspension of the recruitment of about 43 staff that was already concluded by the previous leadership of PenCom.
The protesters, who stormed the headquarters of PenCom on behalf of the new recruits barred from resuming work after receiving employment letters, said the new workers were lawfully employed by PenCom based on the approval of its last Executive Management Committee. They accused the new acting DG, Mrs. Aisha Dahir-Umar, of indefinitely suspending their already legally concluded employments, immediately she resumed office.
The issue was so bad that it was reported that the suspension allegedly lead to the death of Mallam Mustapha Ajiya, one of the new recruits, because he had resigned from his former appointment since April 2017 and had no money to take care of his health and young family.
The PenCom DG in her response said “By the time I resumed office, there was already a letter to say they should not be allowed to resume. That is the problem. It is not PenCom that stopped their resumption”. She said the suspension may have been initiated by the Federal Character Commission (FCC) since the recruitment flouted federal character principle prescribed by the FCC.
The FCC however denied suspending the recruitment, adding that the recruitment process “substantially complied with the principle of federal character.” The spokesperson of FCC, Abdullahi Idris, said that the FCC has no reason to order the cancellation of a legitimate recruitment process and “FCC frowns at organisations who after duly being issued with Certificate of Compliance will turn around to cancel same without genuine reason”.
Investigations later revealed that the House Committee on Federal Character on April 19, 2017, in a letter with reference number NASS/HR/8/CT/36/7/22 wrote to PenCom and directed that the recruitment be suspended.
There were also reports that the recruitment did not comply with the character balancing index supplied by the FCC, and claims that the former administration of PenCom, failed to obtain the final Certificate of Compliance before giving out letters to the newly recruited staff, against the directive of FCC in a letter dated October 28, 2016, that granted PenCom waiver not to advertise the vacancies.
Inconclusion, the issue was not resolved then because the Nigerian Youth for Change representing the alleged newly recruited employees did not agree with all the explanations given by PenCom.
As an independent analyst of the pension industry in Nigeria, PensionNigeria is delighted to hear that this case has finally been taken to Court and we believe that the Court will provide a coordinated platform for the parties involved to prove their case. The Case in question is available Here
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