Kanyip charting a new course for the National Industrial Court

With a sound background in academics, Hon. Justice Benedict Kanyip who came in as the Court’s President a little over year ago has embarked on making quality labour justice delivery available to every litigant. Samuel Attah writes.

Over the years his doggedness, scholarship and contributions to issues bordering on the strengthening of labour jurisprudence and judiciary stood him out. These qualities particularly shone through when he concluded a study for the design of a Draft Labour Policy and Strategic Action Plan for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Having distinguished himself, he caught the attention of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and at their behest carried out a review of all the labour laws in Nigeria. Subsequently, the Federal Government of Nigeria nominated him as one of its two nominees in the Technical Committee for the reform of all the labour laws in the country. Ultimately, his elevation as President, National Industrial Court of Nigeria did not come as a surprise.

His predecessor focused on physical development, and repositioning of the Court, as a superior court of record. However, Hon. Justice Benedict B. Kanyip posits that that having consolidated that, it is time to build quality labour justice delivery. “The vision of any successor to an office is to take it to higher heights. But for us, it may not be in terms of increase in physical structures. There’s the issue of maintaining the structures that are on the ground but more importantly is the essence of the court itself which is justice delivery; quality labour justice delivery. And one of our priorities which I’ve made times without number is the possibility of reducing trial time and make dispensation of justice as quickly as possible. Once we can achieve that, we would have taken the court to the next level. Now is the time to concentrate on the quality of labour justice that we mete out.”

With a background in the academia, it is no surprise that Justice Kanyip is charting a different course. Further to his pursuit of quality labour justice delivery is the desire to be aided by digitalisation. “Right now our critical challenge is funding because issues of digitalisation is heavily capital based and you need a huge capital outlay to succeed. And digitalisation goes with e-filing, e-archiving and things like that. I’m sure you saw what happened to Lagos High Court at Igbosere where it was razed down. Imagine the loss of all documents in the court. So if we can achieve that in the long run, that will certainly be an achievement”, he remarked.

When he was appointed Judge of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) in year 2000, for a tenure of four years, renewable for another four-year term, no one guessed that 19 years down the line, he will head the court. In the early days, appointments to the court could be for a term or renewed for another term. After completing his first term in June 2004, his appointment for another four-year term was renewed.

Born at Anturung-Attakar, Kaura Local Government Area in the Southern part of Kaduna State, North-West Nigeria, Kanyip obtained an LLB from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1985 and a BL from the Nigerian Law School, Lagos, Nigeria. He took up a teaching appointment with the university after the obligatory one-year national service in 1987 and rose to the position of Lecturer II before leaving for National Commission for Colleges of Education as Legal Adviser in the rank of Principal Legal Officer in 1992. He was appointed Senior Research Fellow at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in 1995 and rose to the rank of Associate Research Professor of Law in 2000. He joined the Court in that year.

hor of the book: Consumer Protection in Nigeria: Law, Theory and Policy (2005), joint author of the text: Elements of Commercial Law (1994) and contributing editor of several academic law journals. Besides, he is a member of the International Bar Association; Fellow, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria; Life Member and Deputy President II, Nigerian Society of International Law.

After his confirmation as substantive President of the Court, Kanyip was sworn in on the 13th of December 2019. In his recommendation to President Mohammadu Buhari when he was due to retire, his predecessor Hon. Justice B. A. Adejumo recalled that when an opening for the position of Hon. President emerged in 2003, they both applied for the job and he (Adejumo) was chosen. Notwithstanding, Kanyip’s support was undiminished throughout his tenure. “I started everything with Justice Kanyip. I met him in this court. We both applied for the number one job and to the glory of God, I was chosen. To my surprise, he was the first person to call me to say congratulations and he promised unalloyed loyalty. He never derailed for once. I have no doubt that he will do well.”

“An author of numerous scholarly articles in the areas of consumer law, labour law, tax law and commercial law, Professor Kanyip is author of the book: Consumer Protection in Nigeria: Law, Theory and Policy (2005), joint author of the text: Elements of Commercial Law (1994) and contributing editor of several academic law journals.”

During his inaugural meeting with staff of the Court, the Hon. President announced that he will build on the achievements of the past to better reposition the court in line with global best practices. With a solid background in academics, labour and allied matters, there is little doubt that he will effectively lead NICN towards effective administration of justice.

Under his charge, between October 2019 and June, 2020, court disposed of 1,486 cases despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 lockdown. While 627 cases were disposed of in the fourth quarter of 2019, the first quarter of 2020 saw the clearance of 619 cases. The figures dropped to 240 in the second quarter of 2020, the period when lockdown was most severe. Speaking at the commencement of the court’s new legal year, he disclosed that: “As at March 13, the court had 6,596 cases in its docket across the country with Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan leading in that order. Today, the total number of cased that are pending are 6095. This means that 501 cases were disposed of between March 13 and Sept. 30, 2020. COVID-19 did not allow for much filing of cases, but it did not stop the court from sitting and disposing of cases. The judges of the court, in line with the Practice Directions and Guidelines 2020, sat physically and virtually all through the COVID-19 lockdown and took the opportunity to dispose of especially cases that were at address and judgment stages.”

“The judges of the court, in line with the Practice Directions and Guidelines 2020, sat physically and virtually all through the COVID-19 lockdown and took the opportunity to dispose of especially cases that were at address and judgment stages.”

Kanyip further disclosed that one of the things which stood the court out was its regular and consistent uploads and updates of its judgments and rulings on its website, a fact that has received favourable reviews from commentators. The NICN is constitutionally recognized under sections 6 (5)(cc) and 254A of the Constitution as fourth on the list of superior courts of record. The Court consists of a President and such number of Judges as may be prescribed by an Act of the National

Assembly. It has exclusive jurisdiction in civil cases and matters relating to labour, employment, trade unions, industrial relations, national minimum wage, international best practices in labour and industrial relations matters, discrimination or sexual harassment at the workplace, application or interpretation of international labour standards, child labour, child abuse, human trafficking, interpretation and application of collective agreements, payment or non-payment of salaries, wages, personnel matters arising from any free trade zone in the Federation, etc. A total of 33 judges are currently serving in various divisions of the court.