THE QUAGMIRE OF THE NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURTOF NIGERIA’S EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OVER TORTIOUSLIABILITY 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 t o 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 pu rsuant
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 c lear 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 th e 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.