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Hon. Justice Muhammad Hamza of the Port-Harcourt Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court has ordered the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Services to pay the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund the sum of N88,058,696 (Eighty-Eight Million, Fifty-Eight Thousand, Six Hundred and Ninety-Six Naira, Two Kobo) as full and final settlement of Employees’ Compensation Scheme liabilities for January 2015 to December 2024 within 30 days.
Justice Hamza held that the sum represents the agreed settlement arising from the statutory obligation of the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Services to remit contributions into the Employees’ Compensation Fund pursuant to the provisions of the Employees' Compensation Act 2010.
From facts, the Claimant, Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, had submitted that the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Services is an employer within the meaning of the Employees’ Compensation Act and is therefore obligated to make a minimum monthly contribution of one percent of its total monthly payroll into the Employees’ Compensation Fund managed by the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund.
The NSITF further averred that despite several engagements, including demand letters, reminder notices, and statutory assessment notices requesting compliance with the Employees’ Compensation Scheme, the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Services failed to furnish its payroll records or remit the mandatory statutory contributions.
The NSITF stated that, following the continued refusal of the Rivers Internal Revenue to provide the required payroll records for inspection, the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund exercised its statutory powers to estimate the Rivers Internal Revenue payroll and assess outstanding contributions and penalties arising from the non-compliance.
Delivering the judgment after the parties adopted their Terms of Settlement, the presiding Judge, Justice Muhammad Hamza, held that the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Services agreed to pay the sum of N74,833,648 representing its statutory contribution of one percent of its total monthly payroll covering the years January 2015 to December 2024.
Justice Muhammad Hamza held that the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Services also agreed to pay N11,225,047 as a penalty for default and the sum of N2,000,000 as the cost of recovery, bringing the total settlement sum to N88,058,696 payable to the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund.
The Court ruled that NSITF agrees not to conduct any further audits in relation to remittances for the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Services workplace for the relevant period (January 2015 to December 2024) as agreed in the course of settlement.
