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good or international best practice in labour or industry relations shall be a question of fact. This stipulation, as it were, will involve the calling of evidence in order to determine what is the best labour practice and this can lead to delay and subjective standard on the part of the person urging the court to invoke the section. To solve this problem, Honourable Justice BabatundeAdejumo has suggested that the provision obviously will permit the court to borrow from foreign jurisdiction labour principles which are International best labour practices.³⁹⁴

137 4.5.2 The Board of Inquiry

This is an institution through which the government intervenes in the industrial relation system. The Minister of labor has the power to set up a board of inquiry pursuant to section 33 of the Trade Dispute Act. The board normally investigates the facts, causes and circumstances of a dispute.³⁹⁷ Its role in the protection of economically dependent workers is arguably minimal or insignificant.

4.5.3 The Federal Ministry of Labour

This is the major federal agency of labour saddled with the responsibility to promote industrial harmony through the encouragement of voluntary collective bargaining between workers and employers. It is the institution through which the government makes policies pertaining to labour.

One of the areas which the ministry has contributed to the protection of economically dependent workers is the formulation of the guidelines with regard to staffing and outsourcing in the oil and gas industry.³⁹⁸ Commenting on this development, Danesi argued that, although the guidelines are a step in the right direction, they still fall short of providing a long term solution.³⁹⁹ Therefore, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment should not stop at the formulation of a policy but should continue to press towards the effective implementation of same.

4.5.4 Trade Unions

Trade unions constitute a strategic platform in the protection of all workers including economically dependent workers. By the combined force of section 40 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Article 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, section 1 of the Trade Unions Act and section 9 of the Labour Act, the right to join or form a trade union is constitutional, fundamental and unchallengeable by the employer. This was buttressed in the case of Golden Silk v

397E O, Okaka& E, Eriaguna,op.cit, p. 190.

398 See ‗Guidelines on Labour Administration: Issues in Contract Staffing/Outsourcing in the Oil and Gas Industry‘

Issued on 25^th May, 2011 at Abuja, Nigeria

399 R M, DanesiOp.cit, p. 2.

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Steel&Engineering.⁴⁰⁰ Based on these authorities, economically dependent workers can come together to create a formidable force in bargaining with their employers and it will provide a strong and uniform platform for making their grievances known to the government. However, it is observed that the following bottlenecks hinder the effective unionisation of the most of these workers;

i. They fear that their employers may sack them if they decide to join a trade union⁴⁰¹

ii. There is no internal democracy in most of the trade among as most of the members are not usually carried along in union activities.⁴⁰² The leaders of these unions make check of dues and levies the driving force for the formation of the unions. That is why in some cases, two unions are seen battling in court over who has the right to organize the workers.⁴⁰³

4.5.5 National Industrial Court of Nigeria

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria is currently established by section 1 of the NIC Act. In addition, section 254C of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria⁴⁰⁴, confers exclusive jurisdiction on the NICN with respect to civil and criminal matters relating to labour including trade unions and industrial relations, environment and conditions of work, health, safety and welfare of the workforce and matter of industrial relations. In fact, the NICN is the major institutional framework for extension of justice and protection to the economical dependent workers. It has risen up in most cases to do justice to this great task placed on its shoulders. The flexibility of the court system is not just geared at an impassioned zeal to do justice but from the deep bowels of the realisation that the court‘s jurisdiction is invoked not for the enforcement of mere contractual rights but for preventing labour practice regarded as unfair and for restoring industrial peace. Therefore, it has reached out to

400 Suit No: NICN/ABJ/413/2015 delivered on 16/12/2016.

401 R M, Danesi, op.cit, p. 13.

402T, Adefolaju, ‗Trade Unions in Nigeria and the Challenge of Internal Democracy‘ Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, vol.4 No.6 (2013) p. 111.

403 See National Union of Hotel and Personal Services Workers v. Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (unreported suit No: NICN/ABJ/260 2015 delivered on 28/09/2016.

404(Third Alteration) Act, 2010.

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these workers in the areas of compensation for injuries, unionisation, contract staffing/ outsourcing, etc as we see in some of its decisions.

In the case of Mr. Simeon Chukwu v. Arab Contract Nigeria Limited⁴⁰⁵the claimant brought claim for compensation due to him having sustained severe injuries while working for the respondent company. He asserted that he was an employee while the company denied it holding that he was only a contract worker. There was omission on the parts of the claimant to specify the law under which he is bringing his claims for compensation as counsel only mentioned the Employees Compensation Act for the first time in his written address. This built up a heavy weather for the claimant‘s cases but the NICN intervened. The court did not buy the submission of the respondent‘s counsel that the claimant was contract worker probably because of the insignificance of the argument to the issue of compensation given that the applicable law to the claim i.e. the Employees Compensation Act has widened the scope of the term ―employee‖ to also extend to contract staff. With respect to the omission of the claimant to specify the applicable law the court held by virtue of section 14 of the NIC Act that it has the power to grant absolutely or on such terms and conditions as the court thinks just, all remedies whatsoever as any of the parties thereto may appear to be entitled to in respect of any claim. On this basis, the court dispensed with technicality and granted the claimant compensation/damages for work place injury he has suffered. Again, in the case of Golden silk industry Nigeria v. Steel and Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria,⁴⁰⁶ it was argued strongly by the appellant company that the respondent union cannot unionise its junior Staff as their business activities are not covered by the union. Meanwhile, this junior staffs were mostly contract workers.

Rejecting the contention, the NICN held that the junior workers by jurisdictional scope belong to respondent union. In otherwords, the NICN has put beyond doubt that eligibility of workers to join a trade union is not determined by how many years of work experience with the employer or nature of work so that the right to unionise is not exclusively reserved for permanent employees.

405 (Suit No: NICN/CA/23/2015 delivered on 2016-06-16)

406 (Suit No: NICN/ABJ/413/2015 delivered on 2016-12-16)

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The NICN also showed its mandate to render justice in the case of Anthony Agum v. United Cement Company Ltd⁴⁰⁷ where it arrested the deliberate use of contract staffing and outsourcing to avoid employers‘ duties under the law. In this case, the defendant company argued strongly that the claimant was a contract staff in the employ of a third party who works as an independent contractor.

The defendant maintain that it has no contractualprivity whatsoever with claimant and therefore cannot be liable for the several claims of the claimant. Without venturing into long analysis, the court held that in cases like this, it would most appropriately uphold that a triangular employee relationship existed. It also held that the principle of joint and several liabilities applies in such circumstance so that either or any of the employers can be liable for the whole claims. In as much as the court has not been able to define who economically dependent workers are, the above can show that it has been addressing some of the victimisation of these workers face in their work places.

The category of workers in Nigeria whose work situation do not ordinarily correspond to the traditional standard form of employment relationship but who are economically dependent on a single employer for their sources of income are brought together under the concept of economically dependent workers. They include casual workers, contract staff/workers and outsourced workers.

However, there are workers who by their work arrangement correspond to the traditional definition of employee or worker. These work relationships are referred to as standard form contract of employment. Workers in such standard form work arrangement enjoy certain employment benefits that workers in non- standard form work relationship do not enjoy. Standard form work relationship affords workers in such relationships protections provided by labour laws both in Nigeria and other jurisdictions which are lacking in non-standard form contract of employment. In Nigeria, workers in standard form contract of employment are those workers whose employment relationships are created and regulated by a contract of employment duly executed by the parties expressly stating the terms and conditions of the employment relationship. This category is referred to as contract of service. Another category is one which is created and regulated by statute and is referred to as

407 (Suit No: NICN/CA/71/2013 delivered on 2017-03-03).

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contract with statutory flavour. To appreciate the legal status of economically dependent workers otherwise known as non-standard form contract of employment, the nature and status of standard form contract of employment needs to be appraised in this work. This will enable a prospective reader of this work decipher the difference between the legal status of these different categories of work relationships. The aim of this chapter of the work therefore, is to appraise the nature of a standard form contract of employment in contradistinction with the concept of economically defendant workers.