AN APPRAISAL OF THE JURISDICTION AND POWERS OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT OF NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1. Background to the Study

Labour and management relation is for the supply of goods and services at affordable price without disruption in order to industrialize for the creation of wealth. Disputes will hamper such actualization of wealth which is meant for the development sectors of the government. Therefore, disputes have to be settled through the voluntary methods, failing which the compulsory method has to be resorted to in order to industrialize and create wealth for servicing the sectors of the government. Trade and industrial disputes are between labour and management. Government‟s monetary and fiscal policies also play a significant role in developing the interaction within an organized labour market. The role that Trade Unions play in negotiating disputes between employers and their members is also a key feature of this relationship. The breakdown in negotiation process leads to disputes. Strike actions remain the most easily recognizable breakdown of relationship in labour relations. The effect of strikes are commonly known. The loss of productive hours; attendant difficulties in meeting demand for services within the period, breakdown in communication, law and order as well as major threats to economic development are all known features of strike action.¹

Inefficient management of Industrial disputes compromises socio-economic stability of countries. In developed economies, therefore, the mechanism for easier resolution of these disputes is often clearly identified. It is probably to replicate international best practices and create a contemporary dispute resolution mechanism that gave impetus to the establishment of the National Industrial Court.

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria was established in 1976,³ but it actually took off two years later in 1978. It is pertinent to note that prior to the establishment of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Industrial relations law and practice was modeled on the non-interventionist and voluntary model of the British System.⁴ The statutory mechanism for the settlement of trade disputes was found in the Trade Disputes (Arbitration and Enquiry) Act.⁵ The Act gave powers to the Minister of Labour and Productivity to intervene by way of conciliation, formal inquiry and arbitration where negotiation had broken down. The major features of the non-interventionist model were that it was totally at the discretion of the parties to determine whether or not they could surrender to the jurisdiction of the minister. Thus, the minister could not compel the parties to accept his intervention, but could appoint a conciliator upon the application of the parties and set up an Arbitral Tribunal by the consent of both parties. In the second place, there was no permanent institution created to handle and settle labour disputes. An adhoc body had to be set up for a particular dispute and once it delivered its decision, it became functus officio.⁶

The declaration of hostilities between Biafra and Nigeria in 1966 marked a turning point in the Nigerian approach to settlement of trade disputes. As a result of the hostilities, it became expedient during the state of emergency to make transitional provisions for the settlement of trade disputes arising within the period. Consequently, the Trade Disputes Act⁷ 1968 was enacted and it suspended the Trade Disputes (Arbitration and Inquiry) Act of 1958. It, for the first time, gave the minister the power of compulsory intervention in trade disputes while still retaining the additional powers of conciliation, formal inquiry and arbitration. Thus, the requirement for consent of parties before the minister could act was suspended. The 1968 Act also stipulated the time frame within which the minister was to act, starting from the time that the employers and the employees became aware of the existence of a dispute to the time that the minister was notified.⁸ Section 20 of the Trade Disputes Act,⁹ provides as follows:

There shall be a National Industrial Court for Nigeria (on this part of this Act referred to as “the Court”) which shall have jurisdiction and powers as are conferred on it by this or any other

Act with respect to the settlement of trade disputes, the interpretation of collective agreements and matters connected therewith.

The National Industrial Court was essentially established to adjudicate on all issues emanating from industrial relations and labour market breakdown. It was against the background that the legislative arm of government made provision for the National Industrial Court Act.¹⁰ Section 7(1) of the Act provides that the court shall have and exercise exclusive jurisdiction in civil causes and matters relating to labour, including trade unions and industrial relations, environmental and conditions of work, health, safety and welfare of labour, and matters incidental thereto; and relating to the grant of any order to restrain any person or body from taking part in any strike, lock out or any industrial action or any conduct in contemplation or in furtherance of a strike, lock-out or any industrial action;¹¹ Also the court shall any question relating to the determination of any question as to the interpretation of any collective agreement; any award made by an arbitral tribunal in respect of a labour dispute or an organizational dispute; the terms of settlement of any labour dispute, organizational dispute as may be recorded in any memorandum of settlement; any trade union constitution and any award or judgment of the court.¹² Its operational mechanism provide that the President of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria may appoint a single judge to sit and determine interlocutory applications or preliminary matters,¹³ and in any other case before the court and also in substantive terms, the sitting panel of judges to hear any of its cases must comprise of not less than three judges.