…says suit was filed before intervention of President, NASS
By Akubulu Ngozi
The Federal Government, FG of Nigeria has withdrawn its suit filed against the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and the Trade Union Congress, TUC.
Report of the suit withdrawal was relayed from the Office of the Federal Ministry of Justice in a statement published on the 7th of August 2023, signed by the Permanent Secretary, Beatrice Jeddy-Agba, through the Labour Counsel, Femi Falana, SAN.
Recall that on Wednesday, 2nd of August the Congress embarked on a nationwide strike seeking the Government redress on effect of the fuel subsidy removal on the Labour Force.
In line with this, the Federal Government filed a contempt against the Congress for embarking on a nationwide Strike.
According to the statement issued by FG, the contempt proceedings filed against the Congress for embarking on a nationwide protest last week’s Wednesday has been overtaken by events and as such, no longer stands, adding that, the contempt proceedings was filed before the intervention of the President, Bola Tinubu, and the National Assembly.
The statement reads, “The attention of the Federal Ministry of Justice has been drawn to the Communique issued by the Nigeria Labour Congress on 3 August 2023 wherein NLC announced the suspension of its nationwide protests and criticised the contempt summons issued by the National Industrial Court (*Court”), amongst others.
“Kindly recall the exchange of correspondence between the Ministry and your Office on the need for compliance with the extant court orders, restraining industrial action of any kind on the part of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress. The position of the Ministry was informed by the need to safeguard the integrity of the court and prevent avoidable service disruption or damages to public facilities. and the eventual pulling down of the gate of the National Assembly.
“The foregoing prompted the Ministry to initiate contempt proceedings by filing Form 48 on the same 2nd August 2023 in accordance with Section 72 of the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act and Order 9 Rule 13 of the Judgement (Enforcement) Rules.
“It is trite that issuance of Form 48 is just the starting point in contempt proceedings which will only crystalize upon the issuance of Form 49 and the consequential committal order. Upon the intervention of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the decision of the labour unions to call off their industrial action after meetings with the President and leadership of the National Assembly, this Ministry did not proceed further with the contempt proceedings, which would have required the issuance of Form 49 within two days of the issuance of Form 48.
“It is self-evident that the non-issuance of Form 49 as at 4′ August 2023, renders the contempt proceedings inchoate. You may therefore wish to advise or guide the labour unions on the practice and procedure of contempt proceedings, particularly to the effect that the issues or concerns raised by NLC in its communique on the proceedings have been overtaken by events.”