THE QUAGMIRE OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT OF NIGERIA’S EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OVER TORTIOUS LIABILITY EXAMINED

Abstract

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), under section 254C of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (CFRN, 1999) has and exercises exclusive original civil jurisdiction over labor, employment, and ancillary matters pertaining to, arising from or relating to the employment. The Court of Appeal (CA) in Nigeria, whose determination on civil appeals from the NICN is final, has in one breath held that the NICN has jurisdiction over tortious liability arising, relating or pertaining to labour and employment and in another breath held that it does not. This has left that law on the issue in a state of flux. This paper, adopts desk-based method in interrogating whether or not the NICN has exclusive jurisdiction over tortious liability pursuant to section 254C (a) of the CFRN, 1999. While explicating the history of the NICN, this paper examines the impact of the subsisting contradictory judgments by the CA on the issue on Nigeria’s labour jurisprudence. The paper argues that based on the clear and unambiguous provisions of the CFRN, 1999, the exclusiveness of the NICN jurisdiction over tortious liability is unmistakably clear thus, the contradictions by the CA, is unwarranted and capable of undermining the effectiveness and efficiency of the NICN. It calls on the NICN to side with the position of the CA that upholds its exclusive jurisdiction while discountenancing the discordant position in the interest of the predictability of adjudicatory outcomes.