Posted by The National Industrial Court in Abuja has set July 18 for the next hearing in a lawsuit brought against Mercy Corps Ltd/GTE challenging the alleged wrongful termination of employment of Raymond Oloche Abogonye, a director with the firm.
The corporation was brought before the National Industrial Court in Abuja by the disgruntled director, who is requesting that the court award N80m against his former employer for the illegal act of his unjustified dismissal.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit brought by Mr. John Ochogwu on his behalf is seeking N80m in damages for the suffering the defendant caused him.
Abogonye claimed in his statement of claim that he started working for the defendant on April 27, 2020 as the resilience advisor for a rural resilience project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which started in October 2019 and is expected to expire in October 2024.
The claimant claimed that while working for the defendant as a resilience advisor, he initiated and managed a number of intervention concepts, including Policy Dialogue Platforms on Agricultural Inputs, improving the capacity of over 15,000 farmers, and launching youth-led Climate Change Ambassadors who are currently raising awareness of climate change across the four implementing states of the Northeast.
According to the statement, the claimant received the finest and highest annual performance review result per the organization’s evaluation criteria as a result of his excellent performance while working for the defendant.
“Following the claimant’s performance, he was first recommended and appointed to act as the project’s Deputy Chief of Party for over three months and was later appointed to the position of a Director as the project intervention team leader,” read part of the statement submitted by his attorney, John Ochogwu.
“Within his first six months as the Intervention Team Leader, the claimant showed good leadership by helping the intervention team increase the number of participants reached by the initiative by over 69 (69%) percent. 8.
The intervention team led by the claimant was able to enable more than 122% in credit and 281% in sales, which together helped the activity accomplish an upward growth of seventy-nine percent (79%) in job creation among the targeted demographic in the Northeast.
“Due to the claimant’s contributions, the defendant provided an outstanding probationary evaluation to the claimant as part of his
On April 25, 2022, he received the letter of confirmation he needed for the position of Intervention Team Leader.
“Following our claimant’s confirmation, he began serving in his new role as a Director on October 12, 2021, and did so honorably until he began to notice instances of abuse and unethical behavior, such as sexual harassment, workplace bullying, racism, discrimination, and corruption.
A formal report was made against the Deputy Chief of Party (DCoP) to the defendant’s global office sometime in August 2022.
at his official guest bungalow in Gombe, the DCoP allegedly made two attempts to molestation a cook.
“Instead of taking harsh disciplinary measures against the sexual harassment offender, the cook was instead
a senior management team member was insulted and threatened with a sack for reporting them to the defendant’s international office.
“The close encounter with rape wounded and psychologically plagued the cook.
The claimant adopted his witness statement under oath during the hearings in the lawsuit with the file number NICN/ABJ/ 320/2022, and he also submitted a number of exhibits, some of which included his letter of termination and his report to the defendant’s Ethics and Compliance Committee.
After the claimant finished giving his testimony, the defendant’s attorney, Barrister Okiemute Ohwahwa, cross-examined him.
At this time, John Ochogwu, the claimant’s attorney, requested a postponement so he could summon a subpoena witness in support of his contention.
The court granted the request, and the case was continued for hearing on July 19, 2023.