Company Compensates Victim Of Industrial Accident

A company dealing in sale and servicing of industrial generators, Sakr Power Generation, has agreed to compensate one of its workers, Mr. Timothy Egbochie, 31 for the loss of his sight on compassionate grounds.

According to Timothy Egbochie’s claim filed before a Lagos High Court, Southwest Nigeria by a Lagos lawyer, Barrister Abiodun Onidare, the claimant, a 2006 graduate of Mathematics from the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, was employed by Sakr Power Generation Company on 12 January, 2008 as a mechanical engineer/technician.

Egbochie averred that he was on duty in the company on 7 February, 2008 when pieces of metal entered his left eye accidentally when he was drilling a hole in a pipe to instal a 200 KVA sound proof generator of the defendant at 70, Queens Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos.

He stated that the accident was as a result of the company’s failure to provide necessary safety equipment for him.

He averred that he was referred to a private hospital, but there was no relief, adding that he was constrained to take a personal step by consulting an ophthalmologist who referred him to India.

Following the refusal of the defendant to come to his aid, he averred that he briefed his lawyer who wrote a letter to the defendant but the defendant refused to acknowledge the letter.

He stated further that the action of the defendant has rendered him unproductive for the rest of his life and that he cannot fend for himself, wife, two children and aged parents.

He urged the court to award him N50 million as special and general damages and the sum of N5 million as the cost instituting the suit.

However, after over a year of legal hostility, the two parties have opted for amicable settlement. The defendant agreed to pay Egbochie the sum of N2,500,000 as compensation for the loss of his sight on compassionate grounds.

—Akin Kuponiyi