The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Industrial Court

  • List of 19 Judges approved by Osinbajo

    List of 19 Judges approved by Osinbajo

    The Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday approved the appointment of 19 judges for the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.

    This is contained in a statement signed by Soji Oye, spokesman of the National Judicial Council (NJC).said Walter Onnoghen, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), would swear them in on Friday.

    According to Oye, Walter Onnoghen, Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), would swear them in on Friday.

    Judges
    Judges pose for photograph

    “They will be sworn in by the honourable, the chief justice of Nigeria and chairman, national judicial council, Hon. Justice W. S. N. Onnoghen, GCON, on Friday, 14th July, 2017, by 3:00pm at the Supreme Court of Nigeria,” the statement read.

    THE JUDGES:

    • Targema John Iorngee (Benue)
    • Namtari Mahmood Abba (Adamawa)
    • Nweneka Gerald Ikechi (Rivers)
    • Kado Sanusi (Katsina)
    • Adeniyi Sinmisola Oluyinka (Ogun)
    • Abiola Adunola Adewemimo (Osun)
    • Opeloye Ogunbowale A (Lagos)
    • Essien Isaac Jeremiah (Akwa-Ibom)
    • Elizabeth Ama Oji (Ebonyi)
    • Arowosegbe Olukayode Ojo (Ondo)
    • Ogbuanya Nelson S. Chukwudi (Enugu)
    • Bashir Zaynab Mohammed (Niger)
    • Galadima Ibrahim Suleiman (Nasarawa)
    • Bassi Paul Ahmed (Borno)
    • Danjidda Salisu Hamisu (Kano)
    • Hamman Idi Polycarp (Taraba)
    • Damulak Kiyersohot Dashe (Plateau)
    • Alkali Bashar Attahiru (Sokoto)
    • Mustapha Tijjani (Jigawa)

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  • Facilitate establishment of industrial courts, lawyers appeal to governors

    Some Abuja-based lawyers have appealed to state governments to facilitate the establishment of industrial courts in their domains in order to boost justice delivery.

    They made the appeal on Friday in Abuja in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    The lawyers, who stressed the importance of industrial courts in labour relations, noted that the courts should be speedily established in all the states of the federation.

    They noted that as a specialised court, it would boost speedy resolution of labour cases in the states.

    One of the lawyers, Mr Gideon Isah, said the volume of work in the existing divisions of industrial courts were too much, with adverse effect in justice delivery.
    “The industrial court is one court that employers are getting justice by the day and most states are ‘civil service states’ with loads of legal suits in courts.
    “They have to travel to nearby divisions for all their cases, but if every state has a branch of the court it will quicken justice delivery.”

    Another lawyer, Mrs Theresa Idahlesa, told NAN that travelling to access industrial courts in far away states imposes more burden on legal practitioner.

    She noted that the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), with headquarters in Abuja, currently has 19 divisions located in Akure, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Calabar, Ekiti, and Enugu.

    Others are located in Gombe, Ibadan, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, Maiduguri, Makurdi, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Sokoto, Uyo, and Yola.

    NAN recalls that Rivers Government had embarked on erecting a structure for the industrial court in the state.

    The President of NICN, Justice Babatunde Adejumo, had reiterated that erecting structures for the court in states would not influence with the outcome of cases in the court.

  • Industrial Court adjourns case till Feb 27

    JUSTICE F.I Kola-Olalere of the National Industrial Court, Ibadan Division has adjourned till February 27, the case involving 14 members of staff of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, (FUNNAB), Ogun State.

    He ordered the parties to maintain status quo, pending the determination of the case.

    The prosecuting counsel, Oludotun Sotonade, told the court that the management took disciplinary action against his clients with following due process.

    He added that the defence counsel had not filed the witnesses’ disposition and statement of oath. Sotonade filed an exparte motion, which was not granted.

    The defence counsel, Mrs Maryam Ojekunle-Egunjobi, promised to file the missing documents before the next adjourned date.

    The counsel will call five witnesses, the prosecution three and defence two.

  • Yenagoa: 400 labour cases pending before Industrial Court

    Justice James Agbadu-Fishim of the Yenegoa Division of National Industrial Court, has expressed worry over the high number of pending cases before the court.

    Agbadu-Fishim, said on Tuesday at the 2016 inaugural sitting of the court in Yenagoa, that over 400 cases were pending before the court.

    He noted that the high number of cases was partly due to the prolonged crisis in Rivers Judiciary which made litigants from the state to besiege the Yenagoa court.

    According to him, the situation has overwhelmed the court and appealed to the Nigerian Bar Association in Rivers to redouble ongoing efforts to facilitate the early reopening of the Port Harcourt division of the court.

    He warned lawyers appearing before him to refrain from seeking frivolous adjournments, stressing that the labour court was set up to fast track access to justice.

    “This is a special court for labour related matters bordering on workers wages, salaries and welfare and with more than 400 cases before me any lawyer request for unnecessary adjournment cannot be entertained because my diary is full.

    “I cannot afford wasting anytime because our rules are meant to drastically reduce the time it takes claimants to get redress, ” Agbadu-Fishim said.

    Some of the litigants lamented that the closure of the Industrial Court in Port Harcourt was causing them untold hardship.

    One of them, Mr. Olusegun Precious, said “you can see the problems that 16 out of the 17 cases listed for mention Tuesday are all from Port Harcourt.

    “The implication is heavy financially because you will be forced to travel a day earlier and pay hotel bills to be in court by 9 am.

    “And when you do that for yourself and your lawyers you can appreciate the weight of the burden; and when one Industrial Court is serving many states, delay becomes imminent.”

  • Industrial court fixes June 10 for hearing in suit against NLC

    Justice Peter Lifu of the National Industrial Court, Abuja, has fixed June 10 for hearing in a suit against the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

    The claimants in the suit, Mr. Emmanuel Yekovie and Mr. Gideon Homano, took William Akporeha, Ayuba Wabba and Joseph Ajaero to court over their exclusion from the NLC election in Delta.

    The judge, while adjourning the case, said the motion ex-parte had been overtaken by events because the election had already been conducted.

    “Let everybody come, I will listen to all of you, but I do not know the status quo you want to be maintained because you cannot restrain what has already happened,’’ he said.

    The claimants’ counsel, Mr. Jude Igudia, had earlier filed an ex-parte motion on April 20, to restrain the congress from holding elections in the state.

    He said in spite of the motion, the two factions of NLC held elections with two chairmen emerging, excluding the claimants.

    According to him, since the motion is overtaken by events, they would amend the motion on notice and processes to request nullification of the election.

    “We want a declaration that: the defendants have no power or authority under the enabling constitution of the NLC to conduct parallel elections.

    “Or conduct any election by whatever name it is called or described and deny the claimants the right to vie for the executive offices of the NLC in Delta State.

    “We will also request an order of injunction restraining the defendants, his agents, privies or servants from denying the claimants the right to vie for position into the different executive offices of the state’s NLC.’’

    The defendants counsel, Mr. M.E Edah, said that the processes were served after the elections had been held.

    The judge adjourned the case till June 10 for hearing and further application in the suit.  

  • Industrial Court upholds dismissal of lecturer

    The National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday upheld the dismissal of a lecturer, Mr Syed Ahmed, by the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), on grounds of gross misconduct.

    The presiding judge, Justice Maureen Esowe, while delivering judgment in the case, held that the university council followed the laid down procedures in dismissing the claimant.

    Esowe explained that the employment of the claimant was governed by the laws setting up the institution.

    She held that the claimant, who was accused of misconduct, was dully investigated and tried by the defendant’s Senior Staff Disciplinary Committee and found guilty of the offence.

    The presiding judge also held that since the claimant was dismissed by the university council on the recommendation of the committee, the dismissal subsists.

    “Since the defendant gave the claimant the opportunity to defend himself, the court cannot hold that he was not given fair hearing.

    “The court is unable to grant the relief of the claimant since he could not prove the allegation that the confessional statement made against him by witnesses were made under duress.

    “The case of the claimant failed and it is hereby dismissed,” the judge said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that during the hearing in the case, Ahmed told the court that, the students who testified against him were forced to do so.

    The claimant, who was a senior lecturer in the Department of Mathematics, was accused of taking bribe from students in exchange for marks.

    He was dismissed from the university in May 2011 following the recommendation of the Disciplinary Committee that examined his case.

    Ahmed had prayed the court to declare his dismissal as illegal, malicious and null and void