A senior Nigerian–Norwegian expatriate executive has filed a suit against Halliburton Energy Services Inc. before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria. In this suit, bearing the docket number: Suit No. NICN/ LA/268/ 2025 Mr Olukayode Togun v Halliburton Energy Services Inc. , Hallliburton is being accused of discrimination, unfair labour practice, and wrongful termination disguised as redundancy. The case marks one of the most significant cross-border employment discrimination claims in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector in recent years, and is already generating interest across the international energy and labour law community.
The Claimant, Mr. Olukayode Togun, served as Halliburton’s Group Business Development Manager for Nigeria and was, during the course of his employment, the second-highest-ranking executive in the company’s Nigerian operations. According to his claim, he was pressured to leave under a purported “global restructuring” exercise, even though his division in Nigeria was one of Halliburton’s most profitable units worldwide. The Claimant’s pleadings expose what appears to be a blatant case of nationality-based discrimination within one of the world’s most powerful oilfield service companies. Despite being a full Norwegian citizen and employed by Halliburton AS (Norway) for over a decade, Halliburton allegedly denied him full expatriate privileges that were routinely granted to other foreign assignees, solely because of his Nigerian heritage.
According to court filings, “While other foreign assignees (even below him) were afforded full expatriate packages (including housing, schooling and hardship allowances and repatriation benefits), the Claimant was denied such treatment on the ground of nationality.” The pleadings go on to allege that even travel concessions and family return flights were withheld, and that Halliburton paid 30% higher base salaries to other expatriates while deliberately excluding him. Despite their incredibly bloated remuneration packages compared to the Claimant, the suit reveals that during the purported “global restructuring” exercise, not a single one of these said ‘full blooded’ expatriates were made redundant, even though they were demonstrably less productive and far more costly to the company. Instead, the Claimant, who had driven record-breaking growth and profitability in Nigeria, was singled out for removal, offered humiliatingly lower roles several ranks beneath his position, and pressured to accept a non-negotiable separation agreement under an impossibly short deadline.
The pleadings describe this as a calculated attempt to force his exit, with the entire sequence, his lawyers argue, amounting to constructive dismissal, in breach of both international and domestic employment standards. The claimant also accuses Halliburton of attempting to forcibly repatriate him to Norway before the case is heard, in an effort to silence his claims and frustrate the judicial process.
The case, which is expected to test the boundaries of corporate accountability for multinational employers operating in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector, is being closely watched by employment law experts and industry observers alike, is yet to be assigned for hearing. Here, the Claimant will be seeking the following reliefs:
*A. A Declaration that the purported termination of the Claimant’s employment was unlawful, wrongful, and discriminatory, having been carried out under the guise of redundancy when the Claimant’s role continued to exist, and that such conduct constitutes an unfair labour practice in violation of international best practice, the Defendant’s internal policies, and the provisions of the ILO Termination of Employment Convention, 1982, No. 158.
B. A Declaration that the Defendant’s actions in selectively terminating the Claimant’s employment while retaining less productive and higher-cost expatriate staff constitute discriminatory treatment contrary to ILO Conventions Nos. 100 and 111, and a violation of the Claimant’s right to equality and freedom from discrimination under Section 42 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999, as amended) and Articles 2, 15, and 19 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.
Alternatively,
C. A Declaration that the constructive dismissal, disengagement of the Claimant in violation of the defendant’s policies and procedures and contrary to the Termination of Employment Convention 1982 (No. 158) and Termination of Employment Recommendation, 1982 (No. 166) all of the International Labour Organization, is wrongful, unfair and amounts to unfair labour practice.
D. A Declaration that the Claimant is entitled to the immediate vesting and crystallisation of all outstanding stock units and performance-based awards, or in the alternative, payment of their full cash equivalent, being entitlements earned through his performance and not discretionary benefits.
E. A Declaration that the Claimant is entitled to his early retirement entitlement (AFP) in the sum of kr1,500,000 (or its naira or dollar equivalent), together with all associated taxes and costs.
F. A Declaration that the Claimant is entitled to a severance package reflecting the premature loss of ten years of service, assessed at not less than thirty-six (36) months’ salary, grossed up for tax obligations, or in the alternative, sixty (60) months’ salary where the Claimant bears his own taxes.
G. A Declaration that the Claimant is entitled to reimbursement of all relocation and settlement costs incurred in Nigeria, to the tune of ₦100,000,000, being expenses reasonably incurred at the Defendant’s request and for its benefit.
H. An Order directing the Defendants to compute, confirm, and pay to the Claimant all the sums due under prayers C to F above, with interest thereon at the rate of 10% per annum from the date of judgment until full liquidation.
I. General Damages in the sum of $250,000,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Million United States Dollars) for the wrongful and discriminatory termination of the Claimant’s employment, loss of income, reputational injury, and consequential hardship.
J. Cost of this Action assessed at ₦25,000,000 (Twenty-Five Million Naira) as reasonable legal expenses.
K. Interest on the above sums at the rate of 10% per annum from the date judgment is delivered in this suit until the total sum is fully paid.
L. AND for such further order or other order as the Honorable court may deem fit to make in the circumstance.
