According to its lawyer, Femi Falana, the Academic Staff Union of Universities will sue the Federal Government over the registration of the Congress of Nigerian Universities Academics and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics.
Falana disclosed this while speaking on Channels Television today, Thursday.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, had on Tuesday presented certificates of registration to CONUA and NAMDA.
Ngige, who spoke while presenting the certificate of registration to the two unions, explained that the two bodies will exist along aside ASUU.
Speaking with Channels Television, the lead counsel to ASUU, Falana noted that the union would sue the Federal Government over the registration of the two unions.
“ASUU is going to court. It is going to be the National Industrial Court,” Falana said.
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The President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, also confirmed the decision to newsmen on Thursday.
“He (Falana) is our lawyer. So, that is correct,” Osodeke said when asked to confirm the development.
Earlier, Falani emphasized that the registration of CONUA and NAMDA is illegal. He said according to the Trade Unions Act, only one union is allowed to operate in every 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 said there is a Supreme Court judgment on the proliferation of trade unions – the Erasmus Osawe V Registrar of Trade Unions.
The senior lawyer also said the apex court ruled “that your freedom of association is not totalled; it is also regulated by the Trade Unions Act so that there will be no proliferation of trade unions”.
ASUU has been on strike since February 14, 2022, over unpaid allowances, poor welfare, and payment software, among others.
