EFFECTIVENESS OF ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION ACT IN RESOLVING EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP DISPUTES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The quality of relationship between employers and employees is ideally cooperative but disputes are inevitable. This often dictates the stability and productivity of any nation’s economy and social fabric significantly involve issues of wrongful termination, discrimination, non-payment of entitlements, and redundancy among others. The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) has been the major platform for resolving such disputes through litigation. However, litigation suffers a number of demerits including adversarial, time-consumed, technicality, and costs financial. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms comprises of arbitration, mediation and conciliation. This paper explores the effectiveness of AMA in resolving employment relationship disputes in Nigeria. It identifies its strengths such as autonomy of parties, timeliness, confidentiality, and accessibility of expert adjudicating system. Nonetheless, the paper critically evaluates challenges posed by the exclusive jurisdiction of the NICN, the inequality of bargaining power between employers and employees. It identifies the   risk of under-utility of labour protection guaranteed by statutes through private dispute resolution mechanisms. The paper noted the evolving judicial attitudes favoring ADR in resolving employment disputes. The paper concludes that harmonized approach that leverages the strengths of arbitration will enhance upholding of employee rights, foster industrial harmony, and promote access to justice, and economic development.