The National Industrial Court (NIC) has dismissed a suit filed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), challenging the registration of the Congress Of University Academics (CONUA) and the Nigeria Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) as trade unions by the Federal Government.
On Tuesday, the President of NIC in Abuja, Justice Benedict Kanyip, held that Section 27 of the Trade Union Act allows for more than one trade union in employment.
He held that the section does not represent a trade monopoly.
The court held that the then Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, and the Registrar of Trade Unions had the right to register NAMDA and CONUA to co-exist with ASUU.
The court further held that 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 the evidence presented by ASUU was hearsay evidence 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.
The court further 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-normality in 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 pleas by ASUU were rejected, and the suit was accordingly dismissed.
