The Supreme Court of Nigeria has clarified in its judgment that the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) may assume jurisdiction in a limited circumstances over defamation and other tortious claims arising from employment relationships.
In a unanimous decision delivered on Friday, the apex court resolved years of conflicting decisions by the Court of Appeal and laid down a principled framework for determining the proper forum for employment-related tort claims.
The judgment arose from a reference by the Court of Appeal under Section 295(3) of the Constitution.
Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Stephen Adah held that defamation remains a distinct tort under general law and does not automatically fall within the jurisdiction of the NICN merely because it occurred in an employment setting.
“It is resolved that tortious claims, including defamation, do not fall within the scope of labour and employment matters contemplated by Section 254c of the Constitution and properly justiciable before the regular courts, upon a substantive examination of the alleged defamatory publications.”
Justice Adah said the decision did not exclude tortious claims per se from the National Industrial Court, but rather, it establishes a principled and context-sensitive distinction grounded in the pleadings and the constitutional scope of section 254c.
He added that the jurisdictional question remains fact-sensitive and must be resolved upon a careful examination of the true nature of the dispute.
The decision, the judge said, should be understood as reaffirming a constitutional and substance-driven approach to jurisdiction, rather than as laying down a categorical exclusion of defamation claims from the NICN.
However, the court rejected a blanket exclusion of tort claims from the NICN. Instead, it reaffirmed the settled principle that jurisdiction is determined by the claimant’s pleadings and the true substance of the cause of action.
According to the court, where an alleged defamatory statement is so closely intertwined with an employment relationship that its determination necessarily involves the interpretation or enforcement of a contract of employment, or the adjudication of rights and obligations arising from that contract, jurisdiction properly lies with the NICN.
The court held that where a defamation claim exists independently as a tort, does not require reference to an employment contract, and is directed against a party outside the employer–employee relationship, such a claim falls outside the NICN’s constitutional remit and must be heard by a state High Court.
The seven-member panel, presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, emphasised that the inquiry into jurisdiction is substantive rather than formalistic.
The mere fact that an alleged defamatory statement was made in the workplace, the court stressed, does not by itself convert the claim into a labour or employment dispute under Section 254C of the Constitution.
The apex court further clarified that where a termination-of-employment claim is properly before the NICN, any ancillary defamation claim arising from or connected to that termination may validly be entertained by the court, provided the claims are inextricably linked and cannot stand independently without fragmenting the dispute.
“The decision does not exclude tortious claims per se from the National Industrial Court,” Justice Adah said, “but establishes a fact-sensitive and context-driven distinction grounded in the pleadings and the constitutional scope of Section 254C.”
The judgment was delivered in appeal number SC/CV/899/2025 between Emma Elegbe and Lolu Elegbe against HP International School Ltd and others, following a referral from the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal.
The proceedings also benefited from expert intervention by TEMPLARS, whose partner, Inam Wilson, SAN, participated as amicus curiae, assisting the court on issues of broad public and constitutional importance.
Other members of the panel included Justices John Okoro, Helen Ogunwumiju, Adamu Jauro, Jummai Sankey and Obande Ogbuinya.
