Apart from the controversy surrounding the legal status of trade unions in Nigeria, there exist a further area of contention-i.e. the nature of criminal liability of trade unions. Though, the relevant statutes on the control of trade unions in Nigeria place several duties on trade unions, breaches of which attract criminal punishment, there is hardly prosecution in this direction in spite of gross violations of the laws. This apparently stems from the dilemma of the law on corporate criminal responsibility. The paper therefore seeks to examine the issue which is always associated with attaching criminal liability to a legal entity with particular reference to trade unions. It also discusses the basis and extent of corporate criminal punishment for actual crimes and regulatory offences and the effectiveness of criminal sanctions on a registered body like trade union as against natural person. The research finds that though trade unions are incorporated bodies, they are legal entities at least for the purpose of the Trade Union Act in Nigeria and enjoys some benefits which elevate trade unions above other unincorporated bodies enabling trade unions to enter into contract, sue and be sued in their own name. It recommends that since trade unions are suable entities and can answer to criminal charges, especially regulatory offences, more efforts should be made to bring trade unions to comply with their responsibilities under the law.
One of the major drawbacks in the Nigerian criminal justice system is the congestions in correctional centres. Custodial centres are not only the pivot on which the wheel of criminal justice revolves. They are also institutions which provide homes for a technical segment of the society and protection for the general public. Having regard to modern objectives of correctional services, it has become more paramount for custodial or correctional centres to indeed provide platform not only for housing inmates but more importantly as an opportunity to rehabilitate, remould and make lives of inmates more useful whether during custody or after their release. Unfortunately, these objectives are very difficult to realize in Nigeria as a result of several factors accounting for the congestion of Nigerian prisons. It was in the light of this that certain critical legislations were enacted i.e. the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, the Police Act 2020, and the Nigerian Correctional Service Act, 2019 to deliberately arrest some of the major factors which are responsible for why custodial centres have always been overstretched beyond official capacity. Though the ACJA and others were overwhelmingly received with approval by all, it is observed that there is gross lack of will on the part of the government and other stakeholders in the criminal justice sector to fully adhere to and implement the provisions of the laws. The government is urged to increase efforts in empowering relevant and critical stakeholders like the police, the courts and the correctional centres in implementing the laudable objectives of the ACJA and other relevant legislations for a purposeful criminal justice delivery.
The legal struggle surrounding the identity and the constitutional status of the National Industrial Court (NIC) including the extent and scope of its jurisdiction has not been an easy combat since the creation of the court in 2006. Fortunately, the court has survived these questions which include whether the NIC is a superior court (not being a creation of the Constitution at the beginning) and whether it is the final court over certain appeals. At the moment, one of the most potent arguments is the philosophical postulation as to whether the NIC is properly vested with jurisdiction to hear and determine labour issues from extraneous occasions like discrimination, sexual harassment, child's abuse and human trafficking having regard to the primary function of the court as a specialised court on industrial disputes with exclusive jurisdiction over labour matters. It is observed that the extended jurisdiction of the NIC is an extra luggage and not in the best interest of quick justice delivery in industrial matters in Nigeria given that the judicial divisions of the court are few and far between and the fact that the judges are appointed based on the special knowledge and experience on industrial relations and employment conditions. It is recommended that if the objective of establishing the NIC still remains the effective and efficient justice delivery in industrial relations, then there is no need to overburden the court with these extraneous non-labour matters having regard to the complexity and peculiarity of the procedure required in the hearing of some of these non-labour cases and more particularly as these other cases have been consigned to the regular courts.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.