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1. NIGERIAN RAILWAY CORPORATION 2. SENIOR STAFF ASSOCIATION OF STATUTORY CORPORATIONS AND GOVERNMENT OWNED COMPANIES AND NIGERIA UNION OF RAILWAYMEN (NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT) HON. JUSTICE (CHIEF) P.A. ATILADE - PRESIDENT ALHAJI Z.M, ESQ. - MEMBER B.N. OBUA, ESQ. - MEMBER SUIT NO: - NIC/7/87 DATE OF JUDGMENT - THURSDAY, 14TH JULY, 1988. LABOUR LAW - Trade dispute - Award of Industrial Arbitration Panel - Items therein not appealed against - Power of National Industrial Court to uphold. LABOUR LAW - Trade dispute - Issue therein - Where previously litigated upon - Whether National Industrial Court will allow relitigation thereof. TRADE DISPUTE - Industrial Arbitration Panel - Award of - Items therein not appealed against - Power of National Industrial Court to uphold. TRADE DISPUTE - Issue in trade dispute - Where previously litigated upon – Whether National Industrial Court will allow relitigation of. ISSUES: 1. Whether the parties and the subject matter in the case are the same as in Suit NIC/4/82 in which the court delivered its judgment on 19th June, 1984. 2. Whether the court can still look into and deal with the objections made to the Industrial Arbitration Panel Award referred to it even if (1) above was not the case in view of the late release of the Award. FACTS: The first party is a statutory corporation. The 2nd and 3rd parties are the Senior Staff Association of statutory corporations and the Nigeria Union of Railwaymen. A trade dispute arose between the three parties concerning membership of trade union and related matters. The dispute was referred to the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) for arbitration. The IAP made its award, which was notified to the parties. The 1st and 2nd parties were dissatisfied with two (2) of the nine (9) items in the IAP award and lodged separate objections thereto. Consequently, the dispute was referred to the National Industrial Court for determination. HELD: (Allowing the appeals of both parties): 1. On Whether National Industrial Court will not allow relitigation of an issue before it - The National Industrial Court will not allow a relitigation of an issue, which has already been litigated upon by the parties before it. On this case, in do far as the matter involved was the same as suit No. NIC74/82, the issue was rejected by the National Industrial Court. 2. On Power of National Industrial Court to uphold award of Industrial Arbitration Panel not appealed against - The National Industrial Court will uphold items in the award of the Industrial Arbitration Panel which have not been appealed against.