The National Industrial Court has authenticated the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA) and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) as trade unions.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), had dragged the Minister of Labour and Employment, The Registrar, Trade Union, CONUA, and NAMDA as first, second, third, and fourth defendants in the case, respectively.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Benedict Kanyip held that in line with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Act, there can be more than one trade union within an employment.
The judge in addition quashed the claimant’s submission that Section 3 (2) of the Trade Union Act made the first and second defendants incompetent to register CONUA and NAMDA to coexist and carry out the same functions in the universities as ASUU.
Kanyip said that the Section does not encourage the monopoly of trade unions, but rather, the section encourages the existence of other trade unions.
The court said “The reliefs prayed by the claimant failed, refused and I so hold. I make no order as to cost”
The claimant’s counsel, Mr Femi Falana SAN, submitted two questions for determination.
Part of the question was whether by Section 4 (2) of the constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended and Section 3 (2) of TUA, the second defendant can register CONUA and NAMDA to carry out the same functions covering the same jurisdiction sphere as the claimant.
The counsel further averred that the second and third defendants registered the third and fourth defendants in a bid to split ASUU.
The first and second defendants in reply submitted that the court should determine whether the issues raised by the claimant were not speculative and academic.
The third defendant on its part raised three issues that bordered on whether the claimant put before the court any proof, whether the claimant’s suit was not liable to be dismissed, and whether the third and fourth defendants were not legally registered.
The fourth defendant submitted for the determination of the court whether there was any violation in the registration of the two unions.
According to the court, the claimant gave evidence of this assertion from an online publication titled “FG Registers 2 New University Unions in a Bid to Split ASUU”.
Although the fourth defendant objected to the admissibility of the publication in evidence, stating that the publication was a hearsay evidence, the court however dismissed the objection and allowed the admissibility as Exhibit 1.
The court also held that the fourth defendant was not registered as a trade union until January 1, collected the certificate of registration on January 13 and formally completed all processes to be registered as a trade union on January 17, 2023.
The court therefore ruled that as of June 26, 2022 when the claimant filed the suit, the fourth defendant was not in existence.
