Retired comptrollers sue interior Minister over ‘unpaid’ entitlements

No fewer 176 former officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service dragged the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; Comptroller-General of NIS and four others to court over alleged withholding of entitlements. The retired civil servants filed a suit marked: NICN/ABJ/146/2026 against the six key government functionaries before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Abuja on […]

No fewer 176 former officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service dragged the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo; Comptroller-General of NIS and four others to court over alleged withholding of entitlements.

The retired civil servants filed a suit marked: NICN/ABJ/146/2026 against the six key government functionaries before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), Abuja on Friday.

Those listed as defendants alongside the interior Minister and NIS CG, are: the NIS, the Civil Defence, Correctional, Fire and Immigration Board (CDCFIS), the Chairman of CDCFIS and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

The former civil servants, who are claimants in the suit filed by their lawyer, Maroof Giwa, said their decision was informed by the alleged failure of the defendants to heed their demands contained in the many reminders and pre-action notices sent by their lawyers.

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They, however, sought Court’s order to compel the defendants to act.

The claimants, led by one Abalaka Betty Ajuma, alleged among others, that the NIS and other relevant bodies have failed to honour agreements reached regarding payments of their entitlements since they retired years ago.

They claimed that by the condition of service of the NIS, published in a gazette released by the Federal Government in 2015 they were entitled to a car, domestic staff, among others upon their retirement at the rank of Comptroller.

According to them, they have been denied those entitlements since they exited service honourably years ago.

They gave the name of the gazette as: “Unified and Reviewed Conditions of Service for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Federal Fire, Nigeria Immigration and Nigeria Prisons Services hereinafter referred to as “Conditions of Service, 2015.”

The claimants stated that the gazette expressly provides that any officer of the NIS, who retires on the rank of Comptroller of Immigration shall be entitled to one official car and the services of five domestic staff on various salary levels.

The aggrieved retirees maintained that they satisfied all conditions for the enjoyment of the retirement entitlements, adding that “it is customary and obligatory on the defendants to give out cars to retiring personnel on the rank of Comptroller of Immigration and above.”

They added that despite their retirement on the qualifying rank of Comptroller of Immigration, “the defendants have failed, refused, and neglected to provide them with the official cars or the monetary equivalents thereof.”

The claimants stated that they retired at different years, adding that upon retirement, they became immediately entitled to the benefits on retirement, stipulated in the gazetted condition of service of the NIS.

The claimants want the court to, among others, declare each of them entitled one car as benefits on retirement under the gazetted condition of service of 2015 having retired on the rank of Comptroller of Immigration.

They also seek a declaration that the defendant’s alleged failure to provide them with the said entitlements as stipulated in the unified condition of service is unlawful, wrongful, and unconstitutional.

The aggrieved retirees want the court to issue an order directing the defendants to provide them with the entitlements or N15million each in the place of a physical car.

The case, now assigned to Justice Rakiya Haastrup for hearing, has been adjourned till June 23.