By Victor Ahiuma-Young
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has accused employers and government institutions of weaponising court injunctions to suppress the constitutional rights of Nigerian workers and their unions.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, made the accusation in Abuja while delivering a goodwill message at the 2025 Public Lecture of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, NICN, themed “Labour Justice and Labour Law Education.”
He expressed the NLC’s deep concern over what he described as the growing misuse of injunctions and ex parte orders by employers and governments to stifle legitimate union activities and weaken the labour movement.
He said: “A healthy, harmonious, robust, and productive industrial relations space is the bedrock of national development. Central to maintaining this is a fair, impartial, and efficient adjudicatory process.
“For this to be achieved, it is imperative that key stakeholders within this process, particularly the judiciary, possess a deep and nuanced understanding of the actors and their psychology in the industrial relations sphere: their aspirations, their strategies, their legitimate tactics, and their peculiar challenges. This understanding is what enables the making of balanced and equitable decisions that uphold justice.
“It is therefore our firm belief that the judicial process, especially under the sacred mandate of the National Industrial Court, must not be used to further the emasculation of workers and their organisations. On the contrary, it must be deployed as a shield to protect the weak and vulnerable worker from the paws of unconscionable employers. This is the core of your Lordships’ sacred mandate.
“It is in the light of this that we must address a growing and deeply disturbing challenge: the use, and often misuse, of injunctions by employers and governments to stifle workers’ constitutional rights to associate, assemble, and hold an opinion and the pliant disposition of some of the judges. The haste with which these injunctions are sought and granted to stop workers from realising their legitimate objectives has become a significant impediment to industrial harmony.
“We are compelled to ask: Why does it appear that it is only the government and employers that are hastily granted such injunctions by the NICN? This trend requires urgent remediation if we are to make any meaningful progress towards true labour justice.
“Furtherance to this profound concern with a growing trend that threatens harmonious industrial relations is the propensity for one-sided injunctions and ex parte orders from the NICN, almost exclusively in favour of the government and employers. These orders, often obtained in haste, are routinely used to truncate the legitimate activities of workers and their unions. This judicial tool, meant to preserve the status quo, has been weaponized to emasculate labour and tilt the balance of power decisively and unjustly against the workforce.
“Furthermore, we observe a troubling one-sidedness in the judicial application of Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution. While the right of individuals to belong to the political party and religion of their choice is vigorously protected, the correlative right to belong to the trade union of one’s choice appears to be treated with less judicial fervour.
“The NICN, as the specialized court vested with the jurisdiction over our labour laws, must take cognizance of this constitutional provision in its entirety and deliver justice in a consistent manner, affirming that the freedom of association is as fundamental in the workplace as it is in the polling booth or the place of worship.
“We call on the National Industrial Court to rise to its historic duty as the guardian of our nation’s industrial relations sector. We urge the Court to not only adjudicate disputes but to actively protect the delicate balance of power necessary for social dialogue to thrive.
“My Lords, the scales of justice must be balanced, not tilted. When the shield of injunction becomes a sword against the worker, the very fabric of Labour Justice is torn. We must ask: Justice for whom?
“It is also important that we draw the attention of the NICN to the need for lawyers within the employment relations space to be more schooled on the tenets of industrial relations and general labour administration. There is a need to fill the palpable knowledge gap that exists within the legal profession, especially in Labour Law. This would have necessarily helped in delivering justice to labour since a deeply educated Bar would create a greater understanding of the nature of the contestations between the social partners.
“It is also our firm belief that it is not only the members of the Bar that have need of this continuous education in Labour Law. Members of the Bench, with all due respect, equally need frequent training and retraining in order to keep them abreast with the fast-paced developments in the corpus of Labour Law, especially with the advent of AI and app-based technologies.
“Furthermore, the NLC wishes to passionately advocate for the NICN to lend its powerful, respected voice to the call for the Executive arm of government to, without further delay, transmit the Reviewed Labour Administration Laws to the National Assembly for passage into law. These reviewed laws are crucial to aligning our workplace realities with international best practices and the evolving needs of the 21st-century workforce. The continued delay is a disservice to the Labour adjudicatory process and undermines our nation.
“We wish to state, Your Lordships, that the law must be a shelter for the vulnerable, not a sanctuary for the powerful. The NICN was established to be that shelter. It is time to ensure every worker, not just every employer, feels its protective cover.
“We extend our sincere gratitude to the NICN for organising this enlightening program. The Nigeria Labour Congress extends its hand of partnership and collaboration to the Court. Let us work together—workers, employers, and the judiciary—to co-create an industrial relations adjudication system that not only sets global standards but also produces a fair, equitable, and just world of work for the prosperity of our nation. When justice is guaranteed for labour, the nation prospers!
“Let us move from being adversaries in a courtroom to architects in a workshop, building an industrial relations system where justice is not a privilege for the powerful, but a right for the productive. May God bless the works of our hands and may we eat the fruits of our labour!
“A people united can never be defeated! Workers united can never be defeated!!”
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