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12yrs after disengagement: Court orders Ecobank to pay 1,742 ex-Oceanic bank unpaid gratuities, savings
The National Industrial Court sitting in Lagos, has ordered Oceanic Bank to pay N1,086,611,589.11 to 1,742 ex-staff, who were denied thier entitlements by the banks.
Justice R. Gwandu gave the order while delivering judgment in suit Number NIC/LA /231/2012 filed by 1,742 ex-employees of defunct Oceanic Bank, which merged with Ecobank Bank Limited sometimes in 2012.
In the representative suits filed by Mr. Nwabu Okoye, counsel to Mr Babajide Bayode, Yemisi Adesote, Adeboyejo Oladimeji, Seun Aina, Yusuf Kadiri, Segun Alasan, Adetayo Familugba and Lolade Olaribigbe, who sued for themselves and as representatives of 1,733 other ex-employees of Oceanic Bank, now Ecobank Nigeria Limited, the plaintiffs sought the following orders from the court:
“An order directing that they be paid the outstanding sum of N1,146,470,393,.62 being the sum total of thier savings in the Staff Savings Investment Trust Fund, SSITF, scheme contributed by 1742 ex-employees of Oceanic Bank made up of those transfered to Ecobank upon merger of the two banks through the merger of February 15, 2012, and those whose employment were determined before or upon the said merger which remain unpaid till date.”
The claimants in thier statement of claim said the amount is outstanding as their contributions to the SSITF scheme which the defendant has refused to pay till date stands at N926,901,065.60.
Claimants also asked the court for an order directing the bank to pay the sum of N159,710,523.51 being the total sum due as gratuities to 48 of the claimants and another sum of N59, 858,804,.51 being the short payments of severance or redundancy paid by the defendant to 74 of them.
However, the bank through its lawyer, S. Arubike filed a statement of defense to the suit as well as counter- claim.
The bank claim demanded for the sum of N967,529,765.38 being the excess of severance and or redundance benefits paid to the ex- staff of Oceanic Bank, that is, the claimants at 24 percent interest from October 30, 2014, until any judgement is delivered in it’s favour and interest of 10 per cent untill the judgment sum is fully liquidated.
Justice Gwandu in his judgment held that upon the consummation of the merger, Ecobank has fully acquired all the assets and liabilities of Oceanic Bank and cannot repudiate or push some of the liabilities on its employees, moreso, when it was the bank that was in control of the SSITF scheme.
Nigeria’s headline inflation rate rose to 24.23% in March 2025, according to the official government data source, the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The rise in the country’s inflation rate, from 23.18% back in February 2025 to 24.23% in March 2025, reflected a major increase in the rising commodity and energy costs in the last few weeks.
According to the March 2025 Consumer Price Index (CPI) Report which measures the inflation rate released by the government agency on Tuesday, the country’s food inflation rate was 21.79% year-on-year in March 2025.
The food inflation rate, however, showed a decrease compared to the food inflation rate of 23.51% recorded in February 2025.
Economists had predicted that the country’s inflation rate which decreased minimally in February would rise when the Dangote Refinery and the state-run NNPCL got entangled in a petrol price war that culminated in the temporary termination of a naira-for crude agreement between the two oil companies and the subsequent increase in the pump price of petrol.
Some observers had also said the minimal reduction in the prices of food commodities experienced earlier in February was not sustainable, attributing the temporary decline in the prices of food to the importation intervention of the Federal Government.
Food and commodity inflation have skyrocketed as Nigerians battle what can pass for the worst cost of living crisis since the country’s independence over six decades ago, a development that economic wizards have attributed to President Bola Tinubu’s twin policies of petrol subsidy removal and unification of the forex rates.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State has apologised to the people of Bassa Local Government Area (LGA) for the failure of government and security agencies to protect lives and properties.
Fifty-one persons were gunned down early Monday in the Zikke community of the LGA, with houses razed and many displaced about two weeks after a similar attack led to the killing of scores of persons in Bokkos Local Government Area.
Less than two days after the most recent assault, Governor Mutfwang apologised for the government’s inability to protect the people.
Fifty-one persons were gunned down early Monday in the Zikke community of the LGA, with houses razed and many displaced about two weeks after a similar attack led to the killing of scores of persons in Bokkos Local Government Area.
Less than two days after the most recent assault, Governor Mutfwang apologised for the government’s inability to protect the people.
The governor said this on Tuesday at the palace of the Paramount Ruler in Miango.
“I will tell you the truth: I have been crying since yesterday because I had trusted God that all the arrangements were put in place, that this will not happen again. We have made investments in security,” he said.
But like all human arrangements, sometimes they fail. I want to admit that on Sunday night into Monday morning, we failed you. Please, forgive me.”
He urged the people not to relent in their efforts to secure their communities and ensure that they complement security agencies’ efforts by providing vital information for intelligence gathering and expose the antics of the criminals.
Governor Mutfwang, in the company of security chiefs and members of the state executive council, was in Zikke community to commiserate with the people on the death of over fifty persons killed in Monday’s attacks.
The Paramount Ruler of Irigwe land, Ronku Aka, who is the Brangwe of Irigwe, urged the government to come to the aid of the communities with the provision of social amenities in the area.
The governor and the entourage also went to see some of the families who lost their loved ones in the attack. The victims have been buried just as members of the community demanded action to stem the rising wave of insecurity in the state.
Plateau State has been a hotbed of attacks, but the renewed spate of attacks adds a fresh layer of twist to the decades-long crisis rocking the North-Central state.
After the most recent assaults, President Bola Tinubu ordered security agencies to fish out the masterminds, describing the attacks as condemnable.
While experts have linked the lingering Plateau crisis to farmers-herders tussle for resources, Governor Muftwang said it was sponsored and genocidal.
According to him, over 64 communities in the state have been taken over by gunmen.
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