A Critical Analysis of the Impact of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria on the Employer - Employee Relationship

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 a 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 in 1976 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.