July 25, (THEWILL) – The National Industrial Court, Abuja, has affirmed the registration of the Congress Of University Academics (CONUA) and the Nigeria Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) as trade unions.
President of the Court, Justice Benedict Kanyip, affirmed the associations as duly registered trade Unions on Tuesday, while ruling on a suit filed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), challenging their registration by the Federal Government.
Justice Kanyip held that Section 27 of the Trade Union Act does not depict trade monopoly but allowed for more than one trade union in employment.
The court held that the Federal Government, through the immediate past Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, and the Registrar of Trade Union, had the right to register NAMDA and CONUA to co-exist with ASUU.
According to the court, ASUU did not present any evidence before it to show the complete registration of CONUA and NAMDA when it filed the suit.
The court held that the evidence presented by ASUU was hearsay because when the suit was filed on October 26, 2022, CONUA and NAMDA registration had not yet been gazetted in line with Section 523 of the Trade Union Act.
It also held that ASUU also committed an error by filing against NAMDA as the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics instead of the Nigeria Association of Medical and Dental Academics, a mere mis-normal to a description in a suit that appears only when a person has a Jurisdictional name or is in existence.
Justice Kanyip further held that NAMDA was not in existence at the time ASUU filed the suit.
All reliefs sought by ASUU were refused and the suit was accordingly dismissed.
