Court Orders Reinstatement of Ogun Nurse Dismissed After Exposing Corruption at Health College

Abuja, August 27, 2025 — The National Industrial Court has ordered the immediate reinstatement of nurse Thomas Olamide to the Ogun State College of Health Technology, Ilese-Ijebu. Olamide was dismissed by the college management after being identified as the author of a whistleblower petition exposing the alleged hoarding and sale of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) drugs intended for students.

In August 2022, a whistleblower filed a petition with the Zone 2 Command of the Nigeria Police Force regarding the illicit sale of NHIS drugs by some staff members of the college to local pharmacies. During the investigation, police invited several employees, including Olamide, and showed them the petition. She was subsequently identified as the author, prompting the school to establish a panel that indicted her, resulting in her suspension and eventual termination.

Following her dismissal, Olamide, through her lawyer Timothy Adewale of Adewale & Adewale Legal Practitioners, approached the Lagos division of the National Industrial Court seeking redress.

On Wednesday, in Suit No NICN/LA/125/2023 between Thomas Olamide v. Ogun State College of Health Technology & Ors, the presiding judge, Hon. Justice S. A. Yelwa, ruled that Olamide’s termination was illegal, null, and void.

The court ordered the immediate reinstatement of her appointment, payment of all salaries and allowances from the date of her dismissal, and awarded her ₦5 million in damages.

Speaking to SaharaReporters via Zoom after the judgment, her lawyer, Mr. Adewale, described the ruling as well-deserved.

Giving some details, he stated: “It is a locus classicus case. The first of its kind in Nigeria that a law court will protect the right of a whistleblower even though there’s no statutory protection for whistleblowers in Nigeria.

“The court today held that the time has come for a whistleblower to be protected by the honourable court, as it stands within the mandate of the NIC – the law that established the National Industrial Court, the act.”

According to him, “the case of Thomas Olamide, born a Nigerian who was employed as a registered Nurse in the Ogun State College of Health Technology”.

The lawyer said, “While she was there, she noticed a lot of anomalies. A lot of acts of corruption, and she could not keep quiet, as expected of her by the school.

“She reported siphoning of drugs – quality drugs meant for the students by the school clinic. She reported rape of a student nurse, which was seen prior to then as a norm that lecturers can just sleep with nursing students.

“She reported the theft of the school generator donated to the school by the federal government under the watch of the security men, and yet nothing was done. And because of this series of acts of whistleblowing, she was victimized, persecuted, harassed, and intimidated by the school management, which culminated in an alleged suspension for disrespecting the constituted authority.

“That is what was alleged, but we knew that it was because of her whistleblower activity. Eventually, she was dismissed from the school’s employment. So we went to court, and we formulated issues for the court’s determination. We told the court that she was terminated as a result of her whistleblower activity and that our investigation, the termination of her employment, and dismissal were unfair, unjust, and unlawful.

“All the issues we formulated, the court agreed with us today and resolved them in our favour. The court agreed that her termination was unfair, unjust, and illegal.”

Adewale explained that the court, in arriving at its decision, referred to all the International Labour Organization Conventions to show that the Claimant deserved to be protected as a whistleblower.

He said, “The court also referred to its authority under the NIC Act to protect whistleblowers, even though we have yet to have a statutory whistleblower protection law. The court granted our claims and held that she should be reinstated immediately to her place of employment, all allowances should be paid back, all her salaries from the day she was laid off should be paid to her, and a sum of ₦5 million was awarded her for damages.”