An Appraisal of The Jurisdiction of The National Industrial Court under The 1999 Constitution (Third Alteration) Amendment Act, 2010

This paper examines the jurisdiction of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria under the 1999 Constitution (Third Alteration) Amendment Act, 2010. This paper, in particular, considered the history of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria and also critically examined the jurisdiction of the Court as provided in Section 7 of the National Industrial Court Act. The authors observed, amongst others, that the aforesaid section seems to have conferred both original and appellate jurisdiction on the Court. Thus, appeals against its decisions are limited to, and must be based on grounds of fundamental rights. The authors view is that it is a negation of the doctrine of hierarchy of courts in Nigeria to confer on the court such powers. Therefore, they recommended, amongst others, that the substance of the court's decisions be made appealable and appeals emanating there from should either go to a special court to be established and known as National Industrial Court of Appeal or, in the alternative, to the Court of Appeal and from there, to the Supreme Court.