Labour Rights of Lecturers in Private Universities in Nigeria

This study investigated Nigeria's private university lecturers' welfare and their legal rights. The study adopted a doctrinal approach which enabled a proper examination of the extant laws applicable to a lecturer as an employee and the reviewed laws included: the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as Amended), Labour Act Cap L1, LFN 2004, Industrial Training Fund Cap 19 LFN 2004 (as Amended), National Health Insurance Scheme Act, Cap N42, LFN 2004, National Housing Fund Act, Cap N45 LFN 2004, Pension Reform Act 2014, Personal Income Tax Act Cap P8 LFN 2004, Trade Dispute Act Cap T8 LFN 2004, Trade Unions Act Cap T14 LFN 2004. The study made a case for lecturers with the private universities in comparison to their counterparts with the public owned universities. The findings showed that there is wanton disregard for the extant provision of the Labour Act in Nigeria amongst the lecturers working with the private universities. Similarly, the study likewise discovered that there is paucity of reported cases regarding enforcement action involving private university lecturers and their employers. The study perceives that the inability of private university lecturers to demand for their rights is because the Nigerian law also allows freedom of contract in upholding and binding employers and employees to their agreements. Recommendations from the study asserted that the lecturers are entitled to same right as every other professional employee in Nigeria. This exposes the lecturers in the private universities to a weak state where despite the existence of the laws protecting their rights, they are unable to leverage on the existing laws to advance their rights. [For the complete Volume 21 proceedings, see ED629259.]