Having defined the ambit of wrongful termination in Nigeria in our previous post, it’s important to ascertain whether you could claim damages from an employer who has wrongfully terminated your employment contract.
Nigerian courts at various levels have made definitive but varying pronouncements on termination and the validity of the grounds, and we will examine these decisions.
In Aloysius v Diamond Bank Plc, the NICN in adopting international best practices held that termination of employment without adducing any valid reason was wrongful.
The Court of Appeal in many decisions also ratified the NICN judgments. One is ‘Sahara Energy Resources Limited v Oyebola’ where the Court ratified the award of damages by the NICN for wrongful termination.
However, the recent trend of decisions by the NICN and the Court of Appeal deviates from the above decisions. Thus, in the case of ‘UBN Plc v Toyinbo’, the Court of Appeal held that, since the ILO Convention of 1982 has not yet been ratified in Nigeria, it’s not enforceable, and so the NICN cannot rely on its application of international best practices in its decisions.
The NICN has also made similar judgements in the recent case of ‘Attah v First Bank of Nigeria’.
What Then Does This Mean?
Can I Still Claim Damages For Wrongful Termination?
However, recent decisions of the Nigerian courts have constrained the grounds upon which termination of employment would be deemed wrongful.
Nevertheless, one may claim damages where, for example, the terms of the employment contract are violated in the process of termination.
References
1. https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2022/10/04/entitlement-of-an-employee-on-the-
wrongful-termination-of-his-employment/amp/ accessed on March 2 2023
2. https://lawpavilion.com/blog/windfall-for-wrongful-termination-of-employment-a-
review-of-the-power-of-the-national-industrial-court-to-award-exemplary-damages/
accessed on March 2 2023
3.https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://journals.unizik.edu.ng/i
ndex.php/jcpl/article/download/414/383/951&ved=2ahUKEwi5mKr9xb39AhUuRvEDHeQPA
pYQFnoECDIQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0cRMffGkAmA0tNN7dBo9RN accessed on March 2 2023
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