The Lagos division of the National Industrial Court, has ordered Independent Newspapers Limited to pay a total sum of N12.2 million compensation to its circulation clerk, Mr Yerumoh Kessity, who suffered a broken leg in a motorcycle accident while going to work.
Justice Elizabeth A. Oji also ordered the newspaper company to pay Kessity N776,686.37 in outstanding salaries, remit N511,287.21 in unremitted pension contributions, and pay N1 million as general damages.
The court further awarded N500,000 as the cost of the suit, bringing the total monetary awards, excluding pension remittances, to N12,276,686.37 million.
In the judgment delivered on October 12, 2026, in suit number NICN/LA/367/2022,
Justice Oji held that the claimant was entitled to compensation for injuries sustained in the course of his employment, despite failing to establish negligence against his employer.
The court directed that all monetary sums awarded be paid within 30 days, failing which they would attract interest at 10 per cent per annum until fully paid.
Kessity had through his lawyer, C. M. Ohamuo, during the trail of the matter, told the court that he was employed by Independent Newspapers in November 2007 as a circulation clerk responsible for distributing newspapers to customers using a motorcycle.
He also told the court that he sustained a broken left leg in an accident on November 24, 2019, while going to work along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, around Charity, Oshodi, Lagos.
Kessity also informed the court that Daily Independent initially paid his full salary until June 2020, half salary from July to December 2020, and stopped payment thereafter. Adding that the company deducted pension contributions from his salary without remitting them to his retirement savings account.
He therefore sought N15 million as compensation for his injuries, N350,000 allegedly borrowed for treatment, N655,000 for surgery, N5 million in general damages, and other outstanding payments.
Although the company filed no statement of defence and called no witnesses, but its counsel, J. C. Omoha, had argued that Kessity failed to prove negligence on the company’s part, including any defect in the motorcycle.
Delivering judgment in the suit, Justice Oji after considering parties’ submissions, and after citing series of legal authorites, held that the Employees’ Compensation Act 2010 provides a no-fault compensation framework for workplace injuries, meaning an employee does not need to prove negligence to qualify for compensation.
The judge also noted that the accident occurred while Kessity was proceeding to work and that the company had no employee compensation scheme or accident insurance for him.
In awarding damages, the reduced the claimant’s claim for N15 million in injury compensation to N10 million and general damages from N5 million to N1 million.
Justice Oji also stressed that the claimant was still entitled to salary arrears because his employment had never been formally terminated.
The judge, however, rejected the claims for N350,000 in treatment expenses and N655,000 for surgery, citing insufficient proof of money spent and the prospective nature of the proposed surgery cost.