By Correspondent in Abuja.
Seventy former staff members of Premium Pension Limited (PPL) have dragged the company before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Abuja, challenging their disengagement and the alleged refusal of the firm to pay their gratuities and other entitlements.
The claimants, led by Ibrahim Usman Raji, Emmanuel Folorunsho, Mustapha Saidu Sulaiman and Muhammed Baba Ibrahim (suing on behalf of themselves and 66 others), insist their disengagement was unlawful, malicious and without justification.
In the suit, they argue that the company terminated their employment without giving any reason, adequate notice, or salary in lieu. They also allege that the decision has subjected them and their dependants to severe hardship.
The former staff are seeking eight declaratory reliefs and nine monetary claims. Among their prayers is a declaration affirming that valid contracts of employment existed between them and the firm until their disengagement. They also want the court to declare their termination wrongful and illegal.
The claimants are also asking the court to compel PPL to pay them a lump sum equivalent to three months’ gross emoluments, as stated in their respective disengagement letters, seeking an order directing the company to pay their exit/gratuity benefits as previously approved by PPL’s board.
They also want the court to mandate the company to settle all entitlements without deductions for any alleged liabilities, as well as outstanding profit-sharing, performance bonuses and productivity bonuses.
The suit alleges that although all claimants worked in August 2025, their disengagement letters were backdated to July 29, allegedly to deny them earned benefits, including the annual education subsidy paid in August. They insist the company acted deliberately to avoid its obligations.
According to them, the refusal of PPL to honour its commitments has caused significant financial loss and emotional distress, noting that the firm had previously paid gratuities and exit packages to other exiting staff, but has allegedly refused to do same for them “out of sheer greed and irresponsibility”.
They said several attempts to resolve the issue through engagements with past board chairmen,Alhaji Aliyu Abdurrahman Dikko, Mr. Ibrahim Babayo and Mr. Yunusa Yakubu,yielded no result.
The court is expected to fix a date for hearing.
Edited by Dada Ahmed.
