Unpaid pension arrears: Taraba govt exploring out-of-court settlement
The Taraba government is exploring an Out-of-court settlement in the payment of N151.1 million in unpaid pension arrears to former governor Jolly Nyame and three others.
The Creditors Counsel, Mr Uchenna Okeke, informed the National Industrial Court on Thursday in Abuja that the judgment debtor met with his clients and they discussed the possibility of settling out of court.
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NAN reports that in a judgment delivered on July 12, 2019, the court ordered the payment of N151.1 million being the unpaid pension arrears of Nyame and three others from May, 2013 to Oct.2015.
The other claimants in the suit were Uba Ahmadu, Abubakar Armayau and Bilkisu Danboyi.
The judgment debtor, the Taraba government did not obey the court judgment and the judgment creditors had instituted a garnishee proceedings before the same court.
NAN reports that a garnishee proceeding is a judicial process of execution or enforcement of monetary judgment whereby money belonging to a judgment debtor, in the hands or possession of a third party known as the ‘Garnishee’ usually a bank, is attached or seized by a judgment creditor, in satisfaction of a judgment sum or debt.
Okeke further informed the court that the garnishee bank, Polaris Bank, that was ordered by the court to show cause why the judgment debtor’s account with it should be not garnishee in order to pay the creditors, just served him an affidavit in court.
Okeke therefore urged the court for an adjournment in order to enable him study the affidavit and react to it, at the same time afford the parties time to explore the out of court settlement option.
Counsel to Polaris Bank, Ngozi Okonkwo said the affidavit served on Okeke was to state that the account number provided by his clients to be garnisheed was inaccurate.
In addition, she said the bank had in their magnitude provided the right account number, but that the said account had insufficient fund to be garnisheed.
She therefore urged the court to dismiss the garnishee order.
Okeke in reply said the affidavit was incompetent did not affix her seal and a stamp.
The judge, Justice Sanusi Kado in a ruling held that in view of the fact that Okeke was just served on Thursday in court, he adjourned the matter until May 7, for continuation of the hearing in the garnishee proceeding.
NAN also reports that the judgment creditors who were former employees of the Taraba government upon retirement were paid the sum of N45 million out of their total pension arrears of N196 million.
They therefore, approached the court to seek redress after every efforts to get the balance of their pension arrears failed.
On May 31, 2018, Justice Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Gudu, Abuja, sentenced Nyame, to 14 years imprisonment for criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of the sum of N1.64 billion belonging to the state.
