Three former staff of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) have commenced committal proceedings against the BPE Director-General, Ayodeji Gbeleyi, over his alleged refusal to comply with a subsisting judgment of the National Industrial Court, Abuja, regarding their over 20-year-old N112 million pension and gratuity claims.
This was disclosed in a Form 48 dated February 23, 2026, filed by Akpama Ekwe, counsel to Mr. Mohammed S. Liadi, Chief U. Okpa-Obaji, and Mr. A.O. Sadiq.
The form, titled “Notice of Consequences of Disobedience to Orders of Court,” was addressed to the Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Ayodeji Gbeleyi.
According to court processes seen by Nairametrics, the Bureau of Public Enterprises and the Attorney General of the Federation are listed as respondents.
What they are saying
- In Form 48, the BPE DG was urged to take notice that unless he obeys the orders contained in “the judgment of Hon. Justice O.Y. Anuwe of the National Industrial Court, Abuja, he would be guilty of contempt of court and liable to committal to prison.”
- The form quoted the judge as stating that “the sole question submitted by the claimants for determination in this suit is answered in the affirmative, that is to say, the claimants are entitled to pension and gratuity for their service to the BPE pursuant to the provision of Section 18(1) of the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act 2004.”
- In the referenced 2021 judgment seen by Nairametrics, the court granted the claimants’ reliefs and ordered the BPE to immediately, and within 30 days, compute and pay their pension and gratuity accrued up to the date of their disengagement.
Backstory
Based on court documents reviewed by Nairametrics, the three former staff sued the BPE and the Attorney General of the Federation in 2021, seeking a declaration that they are entitled to pension and gratuity and that their former employer be compelled to pay them.
In their affidavits, the claimants stated that they were employed by the Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC), now known as the Bureau of Public Enterprises, in 1989, 1988, and 1991, respectively.
Their lawyer argued that their employments were confirmed and that they were promoted during their years of service.
- “The total amount payable to the claimants as their pension and gratuity is the sum of N112,397,175.99,” counsel stated.
The claimants added that in 2019, their solicitor wrote to the BPE and the AGF demanding payment of their pension and gratuity, but the BPE maintained in its reply that it had no pension scheme in place at the time they left service.
The BPE’s legal team filed a notice of preliminary objection, urging the Industrial Court to strike out or dismiss the suit for want of jurisdiction, arguing that the claim was statute-barred.
According to the BPE, the claimants filed the suit on July 1, 2020, although they had resigned from the agency on September 30, 2000 — about 20 years before instituting the action.
- “On the basis of this deposition, the claimants’ suit is statute-barred because they did not institute the suit within three months or six years, respectively, from when their cause of action arose, being when they resigned in 2000,” the BPE argued.
In its judgment, the National Industrial Court held that the claimants’ right to pension and gratuity is guaranteed by the Constitution.
The court also ruled that the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act makes provision for pension and gratuity for BPE employees and that the agency cannot deny the claimants such rights or benefits.
The court described the BPE’s refusal to pay the claimants’ entitlements since 2000 as “cruel, repugnant and condemnable.”
The judge granted the reliefs sought and ordered the BPE to pay N10 million jointly to the claimants as damages for the delay.
What we know
According to the enrolled orders of the Court of Appeal, the BPE appealed the National Industrial Court’s judgment in 2022.
- A three-man panel of the appellate court, led by Justice Balkisu Aliyu, ruled on January 14, 2026, that the notice of appeal filed by the BPE without the requisite leave of court was incompetent and struck it out.
- The court held that the appeal, having been filed without leave, “is hereby struck out.”
No date has been fixed for the contempt proceedings before the Industrial Court.
