Engendering Speedy Adjudication through the National Industrial Court’s ‘Trial on Record’ Procedure
It is often said and truly so that justice delayed is justice denied. The desire of every litigant when approaching the court to seek redress is that his/her cause will be heard and determined expeditiously. However, owing to several factors ranging from human to institutional, cases filed in court were heard and determined longer than expected. The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) is a specialised court which has exclusive original civil jurisdiction over labour and ancillary matters which by their nature, have to be adjudicated expeditiously. To achieve this aim, the NICN Civil Procedure Rules, 2017 has introduced the practice of trial on records. This paper while highlighting the developmental sojourn of the NICN, examines the court’s practice of ‘trial on record’ by foregrounding its merits and demerits, the challenges facing the procedure and makes recommendations towards overcoming same.