JUDICIAL STRIDES TOWARDS FOSTERING SECURITY OF EMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

One fact that has gained legal notoriety under Nigerian master-servant employment practice is that the employee is subject to the agreed termination process as stated in the contract. On the other hand, the employer can terminate the contract of employment for no reason at all or for any reason. Thus, it would suffice if the employer was to simply say to the employee, “your services are no longer required” and he will be absolved of the need to disclose the underlying reason for the disengagement. The Courts in Nigeria have usually given judicial endorsement to this fluid state of affairs to which tenure of employment had been subjected as evident in the plethora of cases handed down by them in support of this position. However, with the debut of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Third Alteration) Act, 2010, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) became imbued with expanded exclusive original civil jurisdiction over labour and employment matters. This newly invested status of the NICN empowered it to apply international best practices (IBPs) in labour, employment and industrial relations matters which come before the court for  adjudication. The NICN has become an agent of change in turning the tide against nonstandard working conditions and unwholesome labour practices by holding that it is no longer fashionable under IBPs not to give valid reason (s) for termination. This paper, through doctrinal method, examines the impact of this new posture on the law of termination of employment in Nigeria vis-à-vis the hitherto common law position. It found that this posture, though plausible, is yet to be ratified by the Court of Appeal (CA) whose decisions are contrary to it. The paper recommends that the CA should align with this NICN’s paradigm shift – as a stand-in-the-gap measure in the short run – in order to foster the dire need of security of employment in Nigeria.