Industrial Arbitration Panel Act
The Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) Act establishes the Industrial Arbitration Panel as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism for industrial disputes in Nigeria. The Panel provides a faster and less formal forum for resolving disputes arising from employment contracts and collective agreements, before matters escalate to the National Industrial Court.
Legal area: Law governing the relationship between employers and employees, including employment conditions, trade unions, and industrial relations.
Year enacted: 1976
Full text: https://lawsofnigeria.placng.org/laws/industrial-arbitration-panel-act.html
Key Provisions
- Section 2: Establishment of the Industrial Arbitration Panel
- Section 5: Jurisdiction of the Panel over industrial disputes
- Section 10: Powers of the Panel to make awards and orders
- Section 14: Referral of disputes from the Federal Ministry of Labour
- Section 17: Enforcement of arbitration awards
- Section 20: Relationship between Panel awards and National Industrial Court decisions
Significance
The IAP provides a crucial intermediate step in the resolution of industrial disputes in Nigeria, sitting between internal dispute resolution and the National Industrial Court. It handles disputes referred by the Federal Ministry of Labour and has contributed to the development of Nigerian labour jurisprudence.