Court Awards Damages Against IBTC Pension, PenCom, Bank Over Delayed Pension Withdrawal

The Calabar, Cross Rivers State division of the National Industrial Court, has awarded N3 million damages against IBTC Pension Managers Limited, the National Pension Commission (PenCom), and Access Bank Limited for delaying the processing of a pension withdrawal request by a former bank employee, Mr. Adefowowe Adebamowo.

Justice Sanusi Kado, who presided over the court in a judgment delivered on June 18, 2026, held that the claimant suffered hardship and eventually lost his statutory right to access 25 percent of his Retirement Savings Account (RSA) due to the negligence of the defendants in handling his application.

Adebamowo had approached the court in a suit marked NICN/CA/53/2024, after IBTC Pension refused to process his request to withdraw 25 percent of his RSA balance, a benefit available to contributors below 50 years who have remained unemployed for at least four months. 

The pension administrator claimed that Access Bank had mistakenly made pension remittances into his RSA after he had left the bank’s employment in 2007, and that the excess contributions had to be reversed before his withdrawal request could be processed.

But the claimant argued that only N1.69 million, representing the actual excess contributions, could be deducted from his account. While challenged the attempt by the pension administrator to recover investment returns accrued on the disputed remittances and sought declarations restraining further deductions.

During the proceedings, evidence showed that Access Bank continued remitting pension contributions into the claimant’s RSA from June 2007 to March 2013 despite his departure from the bank. The funds were later discovered to belong to another employee, Mr. Abdullahi Bello.

IBTC Pension initially informed the claimant that the excess remittance and accrued returns amounted to about N2.1 million. However, it later revised the figure to N7.9 million, explaining that the earlier calculation was based on an incorrect fund pricing method.

Justice Kado ruled that neither the excess contributions nor the investment returns on those funds belonged to the claimant and could therefore be lawfully reversed and transferred to the rightful owner. 

The judge rejected the claimant’s requests seeking declarations that would prevent the recovery of the disputed funds.

However, the judge faulted the defendants for their failure to detect and correct the erroneous remittances for several years and for delaying action on the claimant’s withdrawal request. 

Justice Kado held that the negligence of the defendants ultimately deprived the claimant of the opportunity to access the 25 percent withdrawal before he attained the age of 50.

Consequently, the court awarded N3 million damages, with each defendant ordered to pay N1 million, and also granted costs of N600,000 in favour of the claimant.