Since February 14, 2022, ASUU has been on strike over unpaid allowances, poor welfare, and payment software…
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has filed a complaint with the National Industrial Court (NIC) against the Federal Government for registering the two factional unions.
“ASUU is going to court. It is going to be the NIC,” ASUU’s lawyer, Femi Falana, told Channels Television on Thursday, October 06, 2022.
In an interview with journalists on Thursday, ASUU President Prof Emmanuel Osodeke confirmed the development.
“He (Falana) is our lawyer. So, that is correct,” Osodeke said when asked to confirm the development.
The two factional unions were formed after talks between ASUU and the government broke down amid a seven-month strike by public university lecturers.
On Tuesday, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, explained that the two bodies will coexist with ASUU, adding that the two associations will have the same rights and privileges as other academic unions in the tertiary education system.
The registration of CONUA and NAMDA, according to Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, is illegal. According to the Trade Unions Act, only one union may operate in each sector.
“You can’t have two trade unions in the same sector. Only a union is allowed to be registered for all academics in Nigeria.
“That is the essence of the classification of trade unions because we used to have mushrooms in the First Republic so the government restructured the unions and grouped all academics together and all non-academics together. You can’t have two or three in one field,” he said.
Falana cited a Supreme Court decision on the proliferation of trade unions, Erasmus Osawe v Registrar of Trade Unions.
According to the senior lawyer, the Supreme Court ruled “that your freedom of association is not absolute; it is also regulated by the Trade Unions Act so that there is no proliferation of trade unions.”
Since February 14, 2022, ASUU has been on strike over unpaid allowances, poor welfare, and payment software, among other issues.