ILO Appoints Justice Kanyip Member Committee of Experts on Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR)

The Hon. President of the National Industrial Court, Hon. Justice Benedict Kanyip, Ph.D., OFR has been appointed as a member of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Committee of Experts in the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR).

This appointment by the ILO is another testimony that Labour Jurisprudence under the leadership of the Hon. President is clearly on a match for greatness.

As the head of the Nation’s Labour Court, Justice Kanyip’s selfless contributions and erudition to labour jurisprudence and national development are exceptional and have been aptly recognized by this appointment.

The Committee of Experts of the ILO was set up in 1926 to examine the growing number of government reports on ratified Conventions. Today it is composed of 20 eminent jurists appointed by the Governing Body for three-year terms. The experts come from different geographic regions, legal systems, and cultures.

The role of the Committee of Experts is to provide an impartial and technical evaluation of the application of international labour standards in ILO member States.

The Third Alteration to the Nigerian Constitution carried out by the National Assembly in 2011 vested the National Industrial Court with the jurisdiction and power to deal with any matter connected with or pertaining to the application of any international convention, treaty, or protocol ratified by Nigeria with respect to labour, employment, workplace, industrial relations or matters connected therewith as well as international labour standards.

The only tripartite U.N. agency, since 1919 the ILO brings together governments, employers, and workers of 187 Member States, to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and men.

The Appointments into CEAR are not on political recommendation by national governments but based on the reputation of the candidate, as a legal expert on a world scale, independent-mindedness, impartiality in judicial decision-making, and high moral character and zenith erudition on the labour laws and justice delivery.

It’s important to state that since its existence 96 years ago, the ILO Committee of Experts has had persons from Nigeria including a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Sir Adetokunbo Ademola who served as Chairman of the Committee between 1976 to 1986.