NBET admits acting outside rules in withholding suspended senior official’s pay

Eric Ikhilae, Abuja

A National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) in Abuja heard on Thursday that the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) acted outside the provisions of the rules regulating its relationship with employees – Human Resources Manual – when it stopped the salary and allowances of a suspended senor staff, Sambo Abdullahi.

NBET’s Head of Corporate Services, Mrs. Itohan Ehiede, admitted this, while testifying as a defence witness in the case brought by Abdullahi, who claimed to have been suspended; his salary and other entitlements wrongfully withheld, because he wrote a petition, alleging corrupt practices on the part of NBET’s leadership.

The suit has NBET, its Managing Director, Mrs. Marylin Amobi and some others as defendants.

Yesterday, Ehiede, led in evidence by the lawyer to the defendants, Tola Oshobi (SAN), adopted her written statement on oath and proceeded to answer questions from Abdullahi’s lawyer, Adam Olori-Aje.

Reacting to a question from Olori-Aje, Mrs. Ehiede said she was employed in NBET on October 21, 2013 and that she did not write any examination before her employment was confirmed about six months later. She admitted authoring the letter communication management’s decision to suspend the complainant’s salary and other allowances.

Mrs. Ehieje said the relationship between staff and her company is guided by its Human Resources Manual, but not the Public Service Rules. She added that any decision taken by NBET management, outside the provisions of the Human Resources Manual, was unlawful and void.

The witness admitted that the stoppage/suspension of staff’s salary and entitlement was not contained in the Human Resources Manual.

On why she wrote to suspend the claimant’s pay pending the decision of the company’s board on his (Abdulahi’s) petition, even when the board had been disbanded, the witness said her employer had expected the President of Nigeria to constitute another board on time.

“We were expecting the president to reconstitute the board, which was not in place then.”

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On whether the NBET takes instructions from the Ministry of Works, Power and Housing, the witness said yes.

She disagreed with Olori-Aje that Hauwa Bello was “upgrade” above the claimant, even when Abdullahi was initially her senior. ‘There was no elevation. The claimant was not higher in rank to Mrs. Bello,” the witness said.

The witness said she did not remember any document where she sought the upgrading of Hauwa Bello above the claimant. “There is nothing in the Human Resources Manual that allows the 1st and 2nd defendants (NBET and Mrs. Amobi) to upgrade a posted official,’ she said.

At the conclusion of her testimony, Justice Oyejoju Oyewumi adjourned until January 14, 2020 for parties to adopt their final written addresses.