Court orders bank to reinstate sacked employee, awards N5.5m damages

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Lagos Division, has ordered a bank to withdraw the dismissal of a former employee, Mr Tajudeen Balogun, and awarded him N5.5m in damages after finding that the bank wrongfully terminated his employment based on incorrect information supplied by Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. Justice Maureen Esowe, who delivered judgment in Suit No. NICN/LA/471/2022, held that the bank breached its disciplinary procedures and denied the claimant a fair hearing before dismissing him over allegations linked to discrepancies in his academic records. The court also awarded N500,000 as costs of litigation in favour of Balogun. “The defendant breached the terms contained in its staff handbook and denied the claimant fair hearing,” Justice Esowe held, adding that the dismissal was founded on an allegation of certificate forgery that was never disclosed to the claimant or subjected to any disciplinary process. Balogun, through his counsel, Gbenga Paseda & Associates, had asked the court to declare his dismissal unlawful, malicious, null and void, arguing that it was based on a false allegation of certificate forgery traced to an error committed by OAU during a verification exercise conducted by his employer. The dispute began in November 2005 when Oceanic Bank International Limited dismissed Balogun instead of confirming his appointment. According to court documents, the dismissal letter did not state any reason for the decision, nor was the employee accused of misconduct at the time. According to court records, the bank forwarded confidential reference forms to OAU on February 28 and June 1, 2005, requesting verification of the claimant’s academic credentials and character. In response, the university reportedly informed the bank that Balogun graduated with a Third-Class degree, contrary to the Second-Class Lower degree reflected on the certificate he had submitted during his recruitment. The conflicting information allegedly led the bank to conclude that the certificate presented by the employee was forged. Balogun was subsequently dismissed in November 2005. However, the claimant maintained that he was never informed of any allegation relating to forgery, nor was he invited to explain the discrepancy before the decision was taken. The reason for his dismissal only became known to him several years later when he visited the Department of Agricultural Engineering at OAU in 2011 while processing documents for postgraduate studies. During that visit, he discovered the correspondence exchanged between the bank and the university regar