The President of the National Industrial Court, Abuja, Justice Benedict Kanyip, has rejected a lawsuit filed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) against 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.
In delivering the judgment on Tuesday, Justice Kanyip stated that Section 27 of the Trade Union Act allows for the existence of more than one trade union in employment, and it does not indicate trade monopoly.
The court ruled that the then Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, and the registrar of Trade Union were within their rights to register NAMDA and CONUA to coexist with ASUU.
Furthermore, the court found that ASUU failed to provide any evidence to demonstrate the complete registration of CONUA and NAMDA at the time of filing the suit.
The evidence presented by ASUU was considered hearsay since the suit was filed on October 26, 2022, while CONUA and NAMDA’s registration had not yet been gazetted in accordance with Section 523 of the Trade Union Act.
The court also pointed out that ASUU made a mistake by filing the suit against NAMDA as the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics instead of the Nigeria Association of Medical and Dental Academics, a minor error in the description of a party that appears only when there is a Jurisdictional name or an existing entity.
Justice Kanyip further stated that NAMDA did not exist at the time ASUU filed the suit.
As a result, all the relief sought by ASUU was denied, and the lawsuit was dismissed accordingly.
