Critical Analysis of the Impact of the National Industrial Court on Employer-Employee Relations

Crippled until the milestone enactment of the Third Alterations Act 2010, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria is vested with the special jurisdiction over labour and employment matters in Nigeria. In this work, we critically considered the implications of some constitutional provisions as it relates to providing a veritable platform for the NICN to make great impact on some global trends in Nigeria's labour realm. 

ABSTRACT

Whenever   there   is   an   employer/employee   relationship,   there   is   bound   to   be   dispute   relating   to   the conditions governing the relationship, which in industrial relation parlance is often referred to as trade or labour dispute. Unarguably, labour disputes have far and wide adverse effects on the growth and stability of the economy of any country. This must have informed the separate legal attention given to it across the globe. In Nigeria, we have the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) which was established in1976 and saddled with the responsibility of adjudicating trade and industrial disputes across the country.Prior to the establishment of the NICN, labour disputes were dealt with by the regular courts which were already saddled with enough duties. This posed untold hardship on labour litigants as access to justice was   marred   by   unnecessary   delays.  Again,   the   procedures   at  the   regular   courts   were   too   slow   and cumbersome such that a nation desirous of rapid industrialization and socio economic development could not afford to be bogged down by such procedures and delays. When the NICN was formed, it encountered problems with respect to the enforcement of its decisions since it was not a superior court of record. The enactment in 2006 of the National Industrial Court Act which reestablished the NICN and purportedly recognized it as a superior court of record could not cure the defect since such recognition was yet to reflect in the constitution. Happily, a new dawn came for the NICN on the 4th of March 2011 when the then president of the federal Republic of Nigeria assented to the Constitution (Third Alteration) Bill 2010.With   this   development,   the   NICN   was   properly   repositioned   for   the   accomplishment   of   its   role   in maintaining industrial balance and harmony. What remains an issue which the researcher undertakes to discuss is the extent to which the NICN has been able to affect pivotal issues arising from the employer/employee relationship such as unfair dismissal, remedy of reinstatement and unfair labour practices, to mention but a few. The researcher adopts construction of statutes, case law, journal articles, textbooks and internet materials as his methodology. At the end, the researcher found that the absence or inadequacy of essential labour provisions, the failure to ratify cogent ILO conventions and some level of passivity in the labour judiciary have considerably hampered the effectiveness of the NICN in positively impacting the employer/employee relationship.   The  researcher then recommends  that   our labour statutes   should   be amended to conform to ILO standards and that the government should make haste to ratify all such ILO conventions which positively impact the employer/employee relationship.