Facts:

The Appellant, who was the Plaintiff in the National Industrial Court, Lagos Division (lower court), is a registered Trade Union, as its name easily could give it away. It initiated the action on behalf of some of its members who were in the employment of the Respondent, the Defendant in the lower court and a company registered under the Nigerian law. The Respondent, at the material time, was engaged in an outsourcing contract with Chevron Nigeria Limited in some of its locations nationwide. The concerned members of the Appellant were those engaged by the Respondent in the said outsourcing contract with Chevron. They were said to have been duly employed and issued letters of employment to that effect. This was the state of affairs between the Respondents and the members of the Appellant in the Respondent’s employment, until June 2008, when the “Collective Agreement” was jointly executed between the representatives of the parties.

The grouse of the Appellant was that the Respondent reportedly refused to implement the terms agreed upon by the parties in the said agreement. To the foregoing contention, the Respondent stated that the said agreement had lived out its existence. Upon the conclusion of trial, the lower court agreed with the Appellant and held that the collective agreement is Justiceable and enforceable”.

However, in light of the fact that the collective agreement had lived out its existence, there was no collective agreement to be interpreted between the parties and consequently dismissed the suit.

Aggrieved by the decision of the lower court, the Appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal.