WHAT IS LAW?

Over the years, there have been several attempts at a definition of this concept. However
numerous the definitions are today, none is free from criticism. There cannot be said to be
any authoritative, complete or absolute definition of law. Nevertheless, the overall attempt to
define the concept has succeeded in one way or another to capture the essence of what law
ultimately is.

The difficulty in achieving an absolute definition may be due to the dynamic and evolving
nature of the law. Thus, everyday new features of this concept are discovered, such that the
definitions of previous years become limiting and do not completely or sufficiently describe
law. Some of the definitions attributed to law include:

1. A rule of behaviour; a code of conduct. It is the rules and regulations of a particular

country, usually made by the legislative arm of government which orders the way persons,
bodies and society should behave.1

2. The whole reservoir of rules from which judges draw their decisions.2

3. The rule of action which is prescribed by a superior person or body and which an inferior
person or body is bound to obey.3

4. A body of rules made by institutions, bodies and persons vested with the power to make
such rules which are binding and enforced among the members of a given society.4

All of these definitions have attempted to capture the meaning of law.

Similarities run through all the various definitions. In essence, therefore, law can be
understood to mean a set of rules which prescribe the standard by which persons or
bodies should behave/conduct themselves in society.

FUNCTIONS OF LAW

1. Law provides a structured framework for a society, guiding and regulating all aspects of
human existence and relationships. In other words, it stipulates what a good, orderly, safe,
peaceful and organized society should look like, such that any behaviour, relationship or
institution that promotes or creates anything outside that stipulated framework will be seen as
contrary to the law or illegal.

1
E. Malemi, The Nigerian Legal Method (Lagos: Princeton Publishing Co, 2010),
2
See L. B. Curzon, Basic Law: An Introduction for Students, 1990, cited in E. Malemi, The Nigerian
Legal Method (Lagos: Princeton Publishing Co, 2010), 7.
3
Sir William Blackstone (1923-1980), cited in E. Malemi, The Nigerian Legal Method (Lagos:
Princeton Publishing Co, 2010), 7.
4
B. A. Garner, Black’s Law Dictionary 9th ed. (St. Paul, Minnesota: West Group; 2009).

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2. Law serves to guarantee and streamline the freedom, rights and duties of the members of a
society. Therefore, though an individual may possess “absolute” freedom, the law puts a limit
to such freedom in order to protect the interests of other members of society.

3. Law serves as a medium for resolving disputes or conflicts. It follows therefore that there
exist the necessary institutions like law courts, tribunals, etc, to carry out these functions.
Law also seeks to provide remedies and justice to people who have suffered negatively by the
action or inaction of another. The most obvious way in which law contributes to the
maintenance of social order is the way in which it deals with disorder or conflict.

4. Law can also be put in place specifically to address or respond to a particular societal
problem or issue. For example, the increase in child abuse and child trafficking in recent
times have made it necessary for laws prohibiting and punishing such offences to be put in
place.

5. For there to be social order and balance in a society, there has to be well-formulated law
and institutions or systems put in place to enforce such law. Thus, law serves as a formal
mechanism of social control. It plays a major role in ensuring the existence and maintenance
of order in a society. “… When the law curbs the excesses of the strong and balances their
rights and duties as well as powers… then we can say the law has dominion…”

6. Finally, law constitutes and regulates the principal organs of power in a society.

The Nigerian Legal System

The Nigerian Legal System (NLS) is based on the English Common Law and legal tradition
by virtue of colonization and the attendant incidence of reception of English law through the
process of legal transplant. English law has a tremendous influence on the Nigerian legal
system, and it forms a substantial part of Nigerian law.

Consequently, legal issues evolving from common law in England and codes of conduct of
the medical profession and professional ethics as a whole, such as confidentiality, consent,
malfeasance, beneficence, duty of care are applicable in Nigeria even though they have not
been legislated upon.

SOURCES OF NIGERIAN LAW

The sources of Nigerian Law are as follows:

The Constitution

The Nigerian Constitution is a Federal one. A federal constitution is one which provides for
division of powers between the constituents of the Federal Government.

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The Nigerian Constitution is supreme. Constitutional supremacy relates to the supremacy of
authority of the constitution over other laws. The current Constitution is the 1999
Constitution. It came into operations on 29th May, 1999.

Legislation

The Constitution regulates the distribution of legislative business between the National
Assembly which has power to make laws for the Federation and the House of Assembly of
each state of the federation.

The current legislation in force at the Federal level is largely contained in the Laws of the
Federation of Nigeria 2004 (LFN). Laws made subsequently are found in the annual volumes
of the laws of the FRN. Federal laws enacted under the military regime known as Decrees
and state laws known as Edicts form the bulk of primary legislations.

English Law

This consists of:

a. The received English Law comprising of the following, the common law, the doctrine
of equity, statutes of general application in force in England on January 1, 1900,
Statutes and subsidiary legislation on specified matters, and
b. English law (statutes) made before 1st October, 1960 and extending to Nigeria which
are not yet repealed. Laws made by the local colonial legislature are treated as part of
the Nigerian legislation.

Customary Law

This emanated from the usage and practices of the people. The traditional classification of
customary law is into the following categories:

• Ethnic/ Non – Muslim: is the indigenous law that applies to the members of the
different ethnic groups. Nigeria is made up of several ethnic groups each with its own
variety of customary law. Ethnic Customary law is unwritten, uncertain and difficult
to ascertain. Ethnic Customary law is enforced in customary courts. These courts are
at the lowest rung of the hierarchy of courts and in most cases are presided over by
non- legally trained personnel.
• Muslim Law / Sharia: In the southern part of the country, Muslim/ Islamic law, where
it exists, is integrated into and has always been treated as an aspect of the customary
law. Islamic law has however been in use in the Northern part of the country since
1959. Islamic/Sharia/Muslim Law is written with clearly defined and articulated
principles. It is based on the Islamic religion and was introduced in Nigeria as a
consequence of a successful process of Islamization. It is based on the Holy Koran
and the teachings of the Holy Prophet Mohammad. The Muslim laws, also known as

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 the Sharia are found in the Holy Koran and the Hadith (teachings of the Holy Prophet
Mohammad).

Judicial Precedent

This is “an earlier happening, decision, etc, taken as an example or rule for what comes up
later. The doctrine of precedent is founded on the objective of law that ensures that like cases
are decided alike. The operation of the doctrine is tied to the hierarchy of the courts. A court
is bound by the decisions of any court above it in the hierarchy and usually by a court of co-
ordinate or equivalent jurisdiction. The Supreme Court is the highest court of the land. The
Court of Appeal is the penultimate court to entertain appeals from the High Courts, which are
the trial courts of general jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal and all lower courts are bound by
the decision of the Supreme Court.

International Law

Nigeria is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, African Union
and many others.

Although Nigeria is a signatory to various international conventions and covenants, these are
not enforceable in Nigeria unless they are enacted into law by the National Assembly.

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BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CONTRACT LAW

What is a contract?
A contract is an agreement which gives rise to obligations which are legally enforceable, e.g.
contracts of sale, employment contracts, building contracts.

Valid and Enforceable Agreements:

The requirements for a valid and enforceable agreement are reasonably clear. If the following
five conditions are satisfied then there will be a valid and enforceable agreement!

1) There must be an offer, and an acceptance of the offer;

2) There must be Intention to create legal relationship;

3) There must be consideration;

4) The parties must have legal capacity;

5) The purpose of the contract must be lawful.

A sixth, and usually “evidentiary” requirement of an enforceable contract is the need to put
the agreement in writing. Most oral agreements are valid and enforceable, but unless they
have been reduced to writing, they are difficult to enforce because they are difficult to prove!
Thus, all contracts should be reduced to writing. Contracts dealing with real estate, by
Statute, must be in writing in order to be enforceable.

1) Offer and Acceptance:

As already mentioned, to constitute a valid contract there must be two elements of — offer
and acceptance. The party making the offer is known as the offeror, the party to whom the
offer is made is known as the offeree. Thus, there are essentially to be two parties to an
agreement. They both must be thinking of the same thing in the same sense. In other words,
there must be consensus-ad-idem meaning - “meeting of the minds”. Each term of the offer
must be accepted before this condition has been met. The acceptance must “mirror” the offer.
If a counter offer is made, then there is no meeting of the minds. Thus, where ‘A’ who owns
2 cars x and y wishes to sell car ‘x’ for # 30,000. ‘B’, an acquaintance of ‘A’ does not know
that ‘A’ owns car ‘x’ also. He thinks that ‘A’ owns only car ‘y’ and is offering to sell the
same for the stated price. He gives his acceptance to buy the same. There is no contract
because the contracting parties have not agreed on the same thing at the same time, ‘A’
offering to sell his car ‘x’ and ‘B’ agreeing to buy car ‘y’. There is no consensus-ad-idem.

(2) Intention to create legal relationship

There should be an intention on the part of the parties to the agreement to create a legal
relationship. An agreement of a purely social or domestic nature is not a contract.

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Example

A husband agreed to pay £30 to his wife every month while he was abroad. As he failed to
pay the promised amount, his wife sued him for the recovery of the amount.

Held: She could not recover as it was a social agreement and the parties did not intend to
create any legal relations [Balfour v. Balfour (1919)2 K.B.571].

3) Consideration:
The agreement must be supported by consideration on both sides. Each party to the
agreement must give or promise something and receive something or a promise in return.
Consideration is the price for which the promise of the other is sought. However, this price
need not be in terms of money. In case the promise is not supported by consideration, the
promise will be nudum pactum (a bare promise) and is not enforceable at law.

Moreover, the consideration must be real and lawful.

4) The parties must have legal capacity:

The parties to a contract should be competent to enter into a contract. Accordingly, a person
is said to be competent or have legal capacity to contract if he

(i) is of the age of majority,

(ii) is of sound mind, and

(iii) is not disqualified from contracting by any law to which he is subject.

Thus, there may be a flaw in capacity of parties to the contract. The flaw in capacity may be
due to minority, (a minor in Nigeria is anybody under the age of 18 years) lunacy, idiocy,
drunkenness or status. If a party to a contract suffers from any of these flaws, the contract is
unenforceable except in certain exceptional circumstances.

(5) The purpose of the contract must be lawful:

The object of the agreement must be lawful and not one which the law disapproves. There are
certain agreements which are expressly illegal or void by the law. In such cases, even if the
agreement possesses all the elements of a valid agreement, the agreement will not be
enforceable at law. An example of such agreement includes an agreement to commit a crime
or to violate an express provision the law etc.

Other factors essential to a valid and enforceable contract.

1. Certainty of meaning

The meaning of the agreement must be certain or capable of being made certain otherwise the
agreement will not be enforceable at law. For instance, A agrees to sell 10 metres of cloth.
There is nothing whatever to show what type of cloth was intended. The agreement is not

6
enforceable for want of certainty of meaning. If, on the other hand, the special description of
the cloth is expressly stated, say Hollander brocade, the agreement would be enforceable as
there is no uncertainly as to its meaning.

However, an agreement to agree is not a concluded contract.

2. Possibility of performance

The terms of the agreement should be capable of performance. An agreement to do an act

impossible in itself cannot be enforced. For instance, A agrees with B to discover treasure by
magic. The agreement cannot be enforced.

3. Necessary legal formalities

A contract may be oral or in writing. If, however, a particular type of contract is required by
law to be in writing, it must comply with the necessary formalities as to writing, registration
and attestation, if necessary. If these legal formalities are not carried out, then the contract is
not enforceable at law.

BREACH OF CONTRACT
A breach of contract occurs when one party to a valid and enforceable agreement fails to
performs, refuses to perform prior to performance being due (repudiation), or performs
“badly”.

Breach of contract can arise in various ways. Below are some examples:

• A has contracted with B that B will provide the air conditioning system for new office
premises.
• B phones up ten days before work is due to start and says that he’s going on holiday
and can’t do the job. That is anticipatory breach of contract.
• B simply fails to turn up on the appointed date. This is failure to perform.
• B does the job but the system permanently blows out hot air. This is defective
performance.
• B arrives on site on time but takes six months finally to complete the work. This is
failure to perform timeously.

REMEDIES FOR BREACH OF A VALID AND ENFORCEABLE CONTRACT

Ordinarily, for easy of understanding remedies for breach may be classified into (1) self -
help remedies and (2) judicial remedies.

The remedies open to A (as above) depend on the materiality of the breach.

(1) Self-help remedies Includes:

(a) Rescission

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The innocent party, A, may declares the contract to be at an end and withdraws from it
altogether. A may claim damages in addition. This option is available to A only if B has
committed a material breach of contract.

(b) Retention and lien

Retention: A can withhold performance of his/her part of the contract.

Lien: A can retain B’s property in his possession until payment is made under the contract,
e.g. repairer’s lien.

Note that self help remedies as the name connotes are remedies observed by the aggrieved
party without or before resort to a court of law

(2) Judicial remedies Includes:

(a) Specific performance

For instance, A applies for a court order compelling B to perform his/her obligations under
the Contract. Such an order will usually only arise in cases involving something unique and
in cases where damages are not seen as sufficient to redress the breach of contract.

(b) Damages

Ordinarily, in commercial contracts, the normal remedy for a breach of contract is damages
… monetary compensation.

The measure of damages often awarded is decided by considering what sum of money will
put the aggrieved party (the plaintiff) in the same position they would have been in if the
contract had been performed. Basically, the courts try to complete the contract by awarding
damages!

The award of damages should be sufficient to put A in the same position s/he would have
been in had B performed the contract. A must proves:

• that s/he has suffered loss,

• that the breach of contract was a direct cause of the loss suffered,
• that the loss was reasonably foreseeable as a result of the breach.

Note that judicial remedies as opposed to self help are remedies sought and given by a court
of law.

Other terms and factors associated with contract

1) Foreseeable: There are limits on how far courts will go in assessing damages for breach of
contract. Generally, a plaintiff can only recover damages that were reasonably foreseeable at
the time the contract was entered into…

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3) Duty to Mitigate: When one party breaches their contract, the other party has to take
reasonable steps to reduce their losses. Sometimes, these “reasonable steps” carried out under
urgent circumstances, aggravate the damages suffered. That’s OK, so long as the steps taken
were reasonable under the circumstances.

4) Penalty Clauses: Generally, courts will not enforce a clause in a contract that is punitive.
However, if a contract contained a provision that the contractor would have to pay #5000 per
day for every day they were late in performing. So long as the #5000 amount, made at the
time the contract was entered into, is a genuine pre-estimate of the damages that will arise if
there is delay, then the court will enforce the clause. This is known as a liquidated damages
clause. A clause that is purely punitive and is in no way a measure of the damages that will be
suffered may be called a “liquidated damages clause” by the wicked. However, judges see
through the charade and will NOT enforce a clause that penalizes a party!

5) Time Limits: An aggrieved party must commence an action to recover their damages
within what is known as “The Limitation Period”. If the action is brought outside of the
period, it will be barred. A plaintiff must bring their action against an engineer within two
years of “discovering” the breach of contract or breach of duty of care (negligence) that led to
the damage. “Discovering” means when the plaintiff knew or ought to have known of the
breach of contract or breach of the duty of care... Again… an objective test applied! In
commercial contracts, parties are free to vary these statutory limitation rules.

(6) Frustration

If, after A and B have made their contract, circumstances outwit their control make
performance impossible, or radically different from what was originally anticipated, the
contract may be deemed to be frustrated. A and B are thus released from their contractual
obligations.

The contract will only be deemed to be frustrated if

• the event which caused frustration could not have been foreseen, and
• neither party was at fault.

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TORTS
A Tort can simply be said to be a “civil wrong”, other than a breach of contract, committed
by one person against another for which the law provides a remedy. A person who breaches a
tort duty (i.e., a duty to act in a manner that will not injure another person) has committed a
tort and may be liable in a lawsuit brought by a person injured because of that tort. A tort is a
fault-based system.

Usually a tort is redressed through an award of damages, distinct from criminal law, where
the state punishes the wrongdoer.

PURPOSES OF TORT LAW

(1) to provide a peaceful means for adjusting the rights of parties who might otherwise “take
the law into their own hands”;
(2) to deter wrongful action;
(3) to encourage socially responsible behaviour; and,
(4) to restore injured parties to their original condition, insofar as the law can do this, by
compensating them for their injury.
The following are examples of torts Liability: Focus will be on negligence.

• Assault: Assault simply means intentionally causing apprehension of harmful or

offensive contact with another. Example: A, a bill collector, threatens to punch B in
the face if B does not pay a bill immediately. Since A has intended to put B in
imminent apprehension of a harmful bodily contact, this is assault, whether A intends
to in fact hit B or not.

• Battery: This simple means intentional, harmful or offensive contact with another
person. (Example: A intentionally punches B in the nose. A has committed battery.)

• Intentional Infliction of Nervous Shock: This tort is the intentional or reckless

infliction, by extreme and outrageous conduct, of severe emotional or mental
distress, even in the absence of physical harm.

• False Imprisonment: This is a sufficient act of restraint that confines an individual

to a bounded area. Example: A wants B to teach him some aspect of laws for
engineers, and locks B in his bedroom for two hours hoping that B will agree. B does
not, and A lets B go. This is false imprisonment, because A has intentionally confined
B. In the case of Big Town Nursing Home, Inc. v. Newman – Plaintiff was locked
up against his will in a nursing home by the staff of the home. Held, False
imprisonment is the direct restraint of one person of physical liberty by another
without adequate legal justification.

• Trespass: As generally used, “trespass” occurs when either:

(1) A intentionally enters B’s land, without permission.

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 (2) A remains on B’s land without the right to be there, even if she entered
rightfully.
(3) A puts an object on (or refuses to remove an object from) B’s land without
permission.
• Nuisance

• Defamation

• Negligence

NEGLIGENCE AND PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY

Negligence is the most important field of tort liability today, as it regulates most activities in
modern society. Therefore, as soon as some new type of activity emerges, it is accommodated
within the general framework of negligence principles.

One of the prime functions of negligence law is compensation for accident victims who are
victims of someone else’s faulty conduct. Another objective of negligence law is to serve as a
deterrent by reducing the frequency of accidents. Negligence law encourages people to
behave carefully in order to avoid liability.

ELEMENTS OF NEGLIGENCE
There are three essential elements that a plaintiff must prove in order to establish negligence:

1) the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care;

2) the defendant breached that duty of care through action or inaction, which fell below
the standard of care;

3) the defendant’s breach caused the injury to the plaintiff.

(1) DUTY OF CARE:

These are duties on individual to take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which are
reasonably foreseeable and would likely injure his neighbour.

The question of who one’s is “neighbour” was answered in the celebrated English case of
Donoghue v. Stevenson by the House of Lords of England to be persons who are so closely
and directly affected by one’s act that he or she ought reasonably to have them in
contemplation as being so affected when directing his or her mind to the acts or omissions
which are called in question.

The three ways to established duty of care are demonstrated below:

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 i. Was it reasonably foreseeable that a person in the claimant’s position would be
injured?
ii. was there sufficient proximity (closeness) between the parties,
iii. It is fair, just and reasonable to impose liability on the defendant.

There are a number of distinct and recognisable situations in which the courts recognise the
existence of a duty of care. Examples include

• one road-user to another

• employer to employee
• manufacturer to consumer
• doctor to patient
• solicitor to client
• teacher to student
• Engineers to client

(2) BREACH OF DUTY AND STANDARD OF CARE

Once a claimant has proved the duty of care is owed he must then show that the defendant
breached that duty. This is merely when the defendant falls below the standard of care
appropriate to the duty. Breach of duty is measured objectively by the ‘reasonable man test’.
The reasonable man is the ordinary person performing the particular task: he is expected to
perform it reasonably competently. Thus, when I am riding my bicycle, I am expected to be a
reasonably competent cyclist who can ride a bicycle.

Standard of Care
These differ for different classes of persons. However, professionals are held to the standard
of persons of ordinary competence, practicing the profession at that time.

In the case of Heath v. Swift Wings, Inc. – Pilot overloaded and unbalanced aircraft, which
crashed shortly after takeoff. Held, one who engages in a business, occupation or profession
must exercise the requisite degree of learning, skill, and ability of that calling with reasonable
and ordinary care.
The following are the standard of care required of a professional:

1. To exercise the skill, care and diligence which may reasonably be expected of a
person of ordinary competence, measured by the professional standard at the time.

2. Perfection is not the standard

3. Take note, however, that through contractual representations, an engineer may be held
to a higher standard of care than he or she would be otherwise.

Allegations of professional negligence against engineers usually arise out of either design
work or field reviews.

With respect to field reviews, an engineer must do as many as he or she feels is necessary to
be reasonably sure that the work is being carried out in accordance with the design. In Coast

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Hotels Ltd. v. Bruskiewich, the court had to assess liability for a failed plumbing system.
Both the contractor and the mechanical engineer were sued. The court found that the bulk of
liability rested with the faulty workmanship of the contractor but did assess the engineer with
a portion of liability for failing to conduct adequate field reviews. The engineer and the
contractor had worked together in the past and the court found that the engineer put too much
faith in the contractor’s ability. Field reviews were not done at appropriate times.

With respect to design work, clues as to what constitutes the applicable standard of care can
be found in the various codes and regulations that apply to the industry.

(3) INJURY TO THE PLAINTIFF

Did the allegedly negligent conduct result in injury or damage to the claimant? If the answer
to this poser is in the affirmative, then the defendant will be held liable and damages awarded
accordingly by the court. However, the claimant has to show that the type of damage was
reasonably foreseeable.

DEFENCES TO NEGLIGENCE

1. Act of God: It is such a direct, violent, sudden and irresistible act of nature as could
not, by any amount of human foresight have been foreseen or if foreseen, could not by
any amount of human care and skill, have been resisted. Such as, storm, extraordinary
fall of rain, extraordinary high tide, earth quake etc
2. Volenti non-fit injuria: simply means the voluntary acceptance of the risk of injury.
If a defendant can prove the claimant accepted the risk of loss or damage, they will
not be liable. Acceptance can be express (usually by a consent form being signed) or
implied through the claimant’s conduct.
3. Contributory negligence: takes part of the blame away from the defendant if it can
be proved the claimant contributed in some way to their loss or damage. The
defendant is still liable but will face a reduced damages payout.

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INDUSTRIAL LABOUR LAW
Labour law, otherwise known as employment law, is the body of laws, administrative rulings,
and precedents which address the legal rights of, and restrictions on working people and their
organisations. Labour law mediates many aspects of the relationship between trade unions,
employers and employees. It is evolved to regulate the activities and conducts of the various
actors or the main stakeholders in the world of work so that the game is played according to
the dictate of the rules and regulations. Such main actors are the workers and their union, the
employers and their associations, the government and its agencies.

Aims and Objectives of Labour Law

The essence of labour law is to ensure orderliness and stability in the world of work through
harmonious relationship among and between the actors within the work organisation. This
situation, if well established and sustained, there will be good job performance that will
engender continuous and improved productivity level whereby interests of individual
employee, the investors and the community will be favoured as to each party and the overall
well-being.

Labour law, just like other areas of law including the constitution and the entire judicial
system of the land (nation) is set out to show direction of conduct, control, protect interests,
prevent oppression, exploitation of a party by another party and many more.

Labour Law is very dynamic and composite in nature emerging from principles of common
law and codified and modified from time to time by legislations and having both private and
public law flavours as it cuts across the law of contract, law of torts, constitutional and
administrative law etc. Labour law as a distinct legal discipline is broad and most importantly
classified into two related components, the Individual Labour Law and the Collective Labour
Law.

(i) Individual Labour Law:

Individual Labour Law is a body of rules concerned with the individual relationship between
employers and employees and covers such areas of Labour Law as: contract of employment,
minimum wage, working time, health and safety, anti-discrimination, unfair dismissal and
child labour.

(ii) Collective Labour Law:

Collective Labour Law, on the other hand, is concerned with the aspects of the labour law
such as: trade unions; strikes; pickets; workplace involvement. Etc.

STATUTES OR LAWS REGULATING LABOUR ACTIVITIES IN NIGERIA.

Many statutes or law regulate labour activities in Nigeria. These include statutes having direct
and indirect bearing on labour matters such as:

• The Constitution (Third Alteration) Act 2010

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 • Labour Act, cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN)

• National Minimum Wage Act, Cap. N61, LFN, 2004

• Industrial Accidents Compensation Scheme (The Employee’s Compensation Act,

2010)

• Industrial Actions (Trade Union (Amendment) Act, 2000

• The Pension Reform Act 2004 as amended

• The National Industrial Court Act 2006

• The Factory Act, Cap F1, LFN, 2004 etc.

We shall briefly discuss salient and important provisions of labour and industrial relations
laws such as Labour Act, cap L1, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (LFN), 2004 and
National Minimum Wage Act, Cap. N61, LFN, 2004, Industrial Accidents Compensation
Scheme (The Employee’s Compensation Act, 2010), Industrial Actions (Trade Union
(Amendment) Act, 2000 and The Factory Act, LFN, 2004.

THE NIGERIA LABOUR ACT, 2004

This law deals with all aspects of employment practices in Nigeria. By this Act, the state
seeks to protect the wages of workers. The law states that wages must be paid in legal tender
and what is deductible from worker’s monthly wages.

The Act forbids a term of contract of employment that is discriminatory in nature, and such
that dictates choice of union participation for workers. Notable of the provision of the Act is
the payment of employer wages, obligations to provides written contract of employment, to
conduct medical examination of employee, termination of contract of employment and
obligation to members of trade unions etc.

Obligation to Provide Written Contract of Employment

Section 7(1) of the Labour Act mandates that an employer provide the employee with a
written contract of employment specifying the particulars of employment not later than 3
months after the beginning of the employee’s period of employment with the employer.

The essential clauses of the employment contract include;

i) The name of the employer or group of employers, and where appropriate, of the
undertaking by which the employee is employed;

ii) The name and address of the employee and the place of his engagement;

iii) The nature if the employment;

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iv) If the contract is of affixed term, the date when the contract expires;

v) The appropriate period of notice to be given to the party wishing to terminate the contract,
due regard being had to section 11 of the Act (section 11 deals with the termination of
contracts by notice, and it is later treated in the body of this opinion);

vi) The rates of wages and method of calculation thereof and the manner and periodicity of
payment of wages;

vii) Any terms and conditions relating to –

• Hours of work; or

• Holidays and holiday pay; or

• Incapacity for work due to sickness or injury, including any provision for sick pay;
and

viii) Any special conditions of contract.

Section 7(2) further provides that where there is a change in the terms of the written contract
of employment, the employer is mandated to inform the employee not later than one month
after the said change and a copy of the written contract of employment as altered must be
made available to the employee. Where a copy of the written contract of employment cannot
be made available to the employee, the employer is mandated to preserve a copy of the
written contract and ensure that the employee has opportunities of reading it in course of his
employment or that the written contract is made accessible to the employee in some other
way.

Termination of Contract of Employment

The Labour Act provides for the termination of contracts in three (3) ways, namely:

i) By the expiry of the period for which it was made;

ii) By the death of the employee before the expiry of that period;

iii) By notice in accordance with section 11 of the Act, or in any other way in which a
contract is legally terminable or held to be terminated.

Section 11 of the Act provides that either party to a contract of employment may terminate
the contract on the expiration of notice given by him to the other party of his intention to do
so. Period of Notice to be given for the purposes of this provision are as follow;

i) One day, where the contract has continued for three months or less;

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ii) One week, where the contract had continued for more than three months but less than two
years;

iii) Two weeks, where the contract has continued for a period of two years but less than five
years;

iv) One month, where the contract had continued for five years or more.

Obligation to Conduct Medical Examination of Employees

Section 8 of the Labour Act provides that every employee who enters into a contract shall be
medically examined by a registered medical practitioner at the expense of the employer; but
an exemption can be granted from this requirement by an order made by the State Authority
(means the Governor or Administrator of a State) where the contract is for employment in
agricultural undertakings not employing more than a limited number of workers, or where the
employment is in the vicinity of the workers’ homes in agricultural work or non – agricultural
work which the State Authority is satisfied is not of a dangerous character.

Obligations to Members of Trade Unions

The phrase “Trade Union” is defined in Section 1 of the Trade Unions (Amendment) Act to
mean any combination of workers or employers, whether temporary or permanent, the
purpose of which is to regulate the terms and conditions of employment of workers, whether
the combination in question would or would not, apart from the Act, be an unlawful
combination by reason of any of its purposes being in restraint of trade and whether its
purposes do or do not include the provision of benefits for its members.

Of particular interest in the Trade Unions (Amendment) Act is section 12 (4) of the Act
which provides that membership of a trade union by employees shall be voluntary and no
employee shall be forced to join any trade union or be victimised for refusing to join or
remain a member. This provision of the Trade Unions (Amendment) Act is supported by
section 9(6)(a) of the Labour Act which provides that, no contract of employment shall make
it a condition that an employee shall or shall not join a trade union or shall or shall not
relinquish membership of a trade union.

Furthermore, section 9(6)(b) of the Labour Act provides that no contract of employment shall
cause the dismissal of, or otherwise prejudice an employee;

i) By reason of trade union membership; or

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ii) Because of trade union activities outside working hours or, with the consent of the
employer, within working hours; or

iii) By reason of the fact that he has lost or been deprived of membership of a trade union or
has refused or been unable to become, or for any other reason is not, a member of a trade
union.

Obligation to Pay Wages

The obligation of an employer to pay the wages of an employee is usually the primary basis
upon which the latter offers services to the former. The Labour Act in Section 1(a) provides
that the wages of a worker shall in all contracts be made payable in legal tender and not
otherwise.

Section 7(1) of the Labour Act also provides that an employer shall give to his employee (not
later than 3 months after the commencement of employment) a written statement, specifying,
among other things, the rate of wages; the method of calculation, the manner of payment and
the periodicity of payment. Section 7(6) of the Labour Act discountenances the need for a
written statement where this particular has already been specified in a written contract. See
also Section 15 of the Act.

The manifest effect of these provisions is to make the payment of wages mandatory for
employers under Nigerian law.

NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2024

Under the National Minimum Wage Act, section 1 and 3 provide that it shall be the duty of
every employer to pay a wage not less than the national minimum wage of N 70, 000 per
month to every worker under his employ clear of all deductions (except any deductions
required by law or deductions in respect of contributions to provident or pension funds or
schemes agreed to by the workers). It goes further to make null and void any agreement for
the payment of wages less than the national minimum wage.

Also, under the new amendment Act, minimum wages are to be revised every three years as
against the five years under the old Act.

Note however, that the National Minimum Wage Act exempts the following establishments
from the obligation to pay the national minimum wage:

i) An establishment in which less than fifty (50) workers are employed;

ii) An establishment in which workers are employed on a part time basis (part time work is
defined by the Act as “work of a duration of less than forty (40) hours per week”);

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iii) An establishment at which workers are paid on commission or on piece rate basis;

iv) Workers in seasonal employment;

i)v) Any person employed in a vessel or aircraft to which the laws regulating merchant
shipping or civil aviation apply.

THE EMPLOYEE’S COMPENSATION ACT, 2010 (INDUSTRIAL

ACCIDENTS COMPENSATION SCHEME)
The Employees Compensation Act, 2011 (ECA or the Act) was passed to repeal and replace
the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1987 (WCA). ECA seeks to put in place a transparent and
fair system of guaranteed and adequate compensation for employees or their dependants in
the event of death, injury, disease or disability arising out of, or in the course of, employment
thereby expanding the scope of accidents that can ground claim under the Act. In addition,
the Act does not only improve compensation system for employees who suffered industrial
injuries, it also takes necessary measures to ensure prevention of workplace accidents and
safe working conditions for employees.

The Act applies to all employers and employees in the public and private sectors in the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, except an employee who is a member of the armed forces of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria other than a person employed in a civil capacity and in the case
of an insolvent employer.

An important feature of the Act is the responsibility placed under it on the Nigeria Social
Insurance Trust Fund Management Board (the Board) for the co-ordination and
implementation of the provisions of the Act and managing the Employee’s Compensation
Fund (“the Fund”) established under the Act.

The Act provides for compensation of employees for occupational diseases and injuries
sustained outside the normal workplace if the:

(a) The nature of the business of the employer extends beyond the usual workplace;

(b) The nature of the employment is such that the employee is required to work both in and
out of the workplace; or

(c) The employee has the authority or permission of the employer to work outside the normal
work place.

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TRADE UNION AMENDMENT ACT, 2005 (INDUSTRIAL ACTIONS)

Industrial relations involve power relationship among the actors in the relations. The
principal actors in industrial relations are workers, employers or their organisations and
government or governmental agencies. The power relationship among the actors often results
in conflict. Conflicts in industrial relations may be resolved by negotiation between the
parties concerned which leads to a consensus or by involvement of a third party through
mediation, conciliation, arbitration or adjudication. Grievances in industrial relations are
manifested through industrial actions usually in the form of picketing, strikes and lockouts.

The Trade Unions (Amendment) Act 2005 (the 2005 Act) was apparently passed in response
to the successive general strikes by the Nigerian Labour Congress which preceded its
enactment. The relevant provisions of the 2005 Act on industrial actions are contained in
sections 6 and 9. Section 6, introduce new subsections (6), (7), (8) and (9). The new
subsection (6) of the principal Act thus provides:

“No person, trade union or employer shall take part in a strike or

lockout or engage in any conduct in contemplation or furtherance of a
strike or lockout unless

(a) the person, trade union or employer is not engaged in the provision
of essential services;

(b) the strike or lockout concerns a labour dispute that constitutes a

dispute of right;

(c) the strike or lockout concerns a dispute arising from a collective

and fundamental breach of contract of employment or collective
agreement on the part of the employee, trade union or employer;

(d) the provisions for arbitration in the Trade Disputes Act...have first
been complied with; and

(e) in the case of an employee or a trade union, a ballot has been

conducted in accordance with the rules and constitution of the trade
union at which a simple majority of all registered members voted to
go on strike.”

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Subsection (7) provides that any person, trade union or employer who contravenes any of the
provisions of this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of =N=10,
000.00 or six months imprisonment or both the fine and imprisonment.

A LOOK AT THE FACTORIES ACT 2004

To a great extent, both the common law rules and the workmen’s compensation scheme have
neglected to deal with the fundamental issue of the prevention of injuries at work. Today, the
only statute whose primary objective is the prevention of industrial accidents is the Factories
Act. The Act among other things requires for fencing of dangerous parts of machinery or
factories or offices, provision of safety equipment, tools and other facilities. There is the
placement of duty of taking reasonable care on the employers wherever the employees might
be in the course of their duties/employment. The provisions apply to all employers and cover
all persons no matter where they work. Criminal prosecution is also provided for. To curtail
injuries and to enhance workers friendly work environments, factory inspectors are put in
place by government to visit and inspect work environments and situations. Non-compliance
to the provisions of the Act is punishable under the law.

CONCLUSION

The power to make laws relating to employment falls largely under the jurisdiction of the
Federal Government; hence all other legislations i.e. legislations from the state are
supplementary to the Federal laws or statutes. The evolvement and development of laws
affecting employment and the related issues are not in any way static. Hence, the laws and
their various provisions keep on changing to cope with the situations as they may arise out of
the employment relations. However, the Labour Act contains general provisions as to
protection of wages, contract of employment and terms and conditions of employment in
Nigeria.

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