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NATIONAL UNION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND MEDICAL AND HEALTH WORKERS UNION OF NIGERIA (NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT) HON.JUSTICE M.A.BORISADE - PRESIDENT AMB. M.S. SALEH - MEMBER CHIEF M.GDABIBI - MEMBER PROF. B.B. KANYIP - MEMBER MRS.V.N.OKOBI - MEMBER SUIT NO: NICI9/2001 DATE OFRULING - NOVEMBER 30, 2001 LABOUR LAW National industrial Court - Judgment of- Order contained therein - Power of to re-write -Conditions precedent to exercise of. LABOUR LAW National Industrial Court - Judgment or order of-Power of to interpret, review or vary same - Scope and nature of - Exercise of - Whether involves re-writing the judgment. LABOUR LAW “Para-medical worker” - Meaning of. NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT Judgment of - National Industrial Court –Order contained therein - Power of to re-write -Conditions precedent to exercise of. NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COURT Judgment or order of National Industrial Court -Power of to interpret, review or vary same -Scope and nature of - Exercise of - Whether involves re-writing the judgment. TRADE UNION LAW “Para-medical worker” Meaning of. WORDS AND PHRASES “Para-medical worker” - Meaning of. ISSUE Whether the National Industrial Court lacks the competence to entertain the Applicant’s motion calling upon the court to interpret and/or review its judgment of June 6, 2001. FACTS By a motion on notice, the Applicant applied to the National Industrial Court, seeking the interpretation and review of the judgment of the court delivered on the 6 of June, 2001 in suitNo.NIC/19/95 between the parties. The motion was supported by a 15-paragraph affidavit. Both parties filed and served their respective memoranda, whereupon the matter proceeded to hearing. HELD: (Granting the application): 1. On Scope and exercise of power of the National Industrial Court to interpret, review or vary its judgment - The power of the National Industrial Court to interpret and/or review its judgment is exercisable where there is an obvious ambiguity or incongruity in the award made by the court. But the power to interpret or review goes beyond mere ambiguity. It includes the power to clarify, and the power to clarify is not necessarily dependent on an ambiguity being found in the award or judgment in the first place. It extends to a party’s desire to have the court make clearer its intendment in an award or judgment. And when this is the case, it does not involve re-writing the judgment. Yet by rule 26 of the National Industrial Court Rules, it is possible to re-write an order if the conditions in sub-rules (1 )(a) (e) are satisfied. These conditions are that the order was wrongly made as a result of an error on the part of the court staff, a party did not receive proper notice of the proceedings leading to the order; the order was made in the absence of a party entitled to be heard; new evidence has become available since the making of the order; or the interest of justice requires such review. The specialized nature of the court warrants the power to review, that is, revoke or vary an order made by the court. Thus, while rule 26 of the NIC Rules embodies the “slip rule,” it certainly goes beyond it. 2. On Power of the National Industrial Court to review its judgments or orders - Order 8 rule 16 of the Supreme Court Rules 1985, which is couched in the negative, differs from Rule 26 of the National Industrial Court Rules which is couched in the positive. So while Order 8 rule 16 of the Supreme Court Rules 1985 can be said to discourage review of judgments or orders, rule 26 of the National Industrial Court Rules is positively permissive of such exercise, although its exercise must be done judicially and judiciously. 3. On Meaning of “para-medical worker”- A para-medical worker means a worker helping doctors or supplementing medical work.