Performing the inauguration in Abuja, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige, said that the IAP was established to cater for arbitration matters, which is one of the stages of trade dispute resolution.
He disclosed the Trade Disputes Act CAP T8, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria stipulates the stages of trade resolution as internal mechanism/mediation; conciliation, Arbitration, and Judicial Adjudication.
According to him, “the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) is one of the organs of Government that enables the Ministry discharge its mandate and therefore is a great concern of the tripartite partners in the Labour industry, and as such witnessing this function today is a major step in the right direction.”
Ngige said, “The law provides for the Minister of Labour and Employment, in Section 9 of the Trade Dispute Act of 2004 to appoint a Chairman and a Vice-Chairman, and to also appoint the arbitrators themselves.
The idea being that we want to resolve as many disputes as possible without people going to waste time in court.” He said the IAP evolved from being a Tribunal to a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, disclosing that “we have an amendment Bill to get the IAP to the status of a Commission, which the 9th Assembly will likely effect.”
The Minister stated that Government has decentralized IAP from the headquarters in Abuja and Lagos, and expanded to Kano, Umuahia and Taraba, Sokoto and Port Harcourt to increase the number to the areas with a lot of workers, industries, adding that there would also be a corresponding increase in the number of arbitrators.
He then enjoined members of IAP to cooperate with the in-coming officers to build a strong and progressive Panel. In his response, the new Chairman of the IAP, Hon. Barrister Aniazoka Michael Chukwujeke-Zokas, appreciated the appointment and requested more support to enable them discharge their duties effectively. He pledged that at the end of their tenure, the IAP would have evolved positively.
Source: https://dailytimes.ng/fg-inaugurates-chairman-vice-chairman-of-industrial-arbitration-panel/
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