The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, sitting in Abuja, has ordered the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI) to calculate and pay 14 years of terminal benefits to its former manager, Mr Reginald Iregbu.
Justice R. B. Haastrup delivered the judgment on January 16, 2026, ending a long legal dispute over which conditions of service should apply to Iregbu’s exit benefits.
Mr Iregbu was employed by the institute in 2005 and promoted to manager in 2014. His appointment was terminated on March 6, 2019, after he refused to sign a new 2016 conditions of service introduced by DBI.
The court held that DBI could not rely on the 2016 conditions of service to calculate Iregbu’s terminal benefits because he had clearly rejected those terms and was dismissed as a result.
Justice Haastrup ruled that the 2003 Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Staff Conditions of Service, which were given to Iregbu at the time of his employment, remain the valid and binding contract governing his benefits.
The court also dismissed DBI and NCC’s argument that the case was a repeat of a 2014 lawsuit. The judge explained that while the parties were similar, the earlier case dealt with unpaid salaries and allowances, not terminal benefits.
Although the court ruled in Iregbu’s favour, it declined his request for N70 million as terminal benefits, saying the claim was not properly proven with specific figures.
Instead, the court ordered DBI to compute and pay his gratuity based on the 2003 NCC rates for senior staff as of March 2019. It also directed DBI to pay his accumulated pension from March 2019 to the date of judgment and to continue pension payments as required by law.
The court further ruled that failure to comply with the judgment will attract a 10 per cent annual interest on all outstanding sums until fully paid.
Iregbu’s request for N10 million in legal fees was also rejected. However, the court awarded him N500,000 as cost against DBI.
Justice Haastrup stressed that conditions of service issued at the point of employment are binding and cannot be changed unilaterally to deny employees their lawful terminal benefits.
