FG makes U-turn on plan to sue NLC

The federal government has apparently dropped its contempt of court lawsuit against labor unions for planning a statewide strike.

This information was obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday and is detailed in a letter sent to the NLC’s lead lawyer at Falana & Falana’s Chambers.

Mrs. B.E. Jeddy-Agba, Solicitor General of the Federation, signed the letter dated August 7 addressed to Falana’s Chambers.

The protest was initiated after the National Industrial Court (NICN) issued summonses on contempt of court to the heads of organized labor on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Justice.

You may recall that on August 14 organized labor threatened a nationwide strike if the Federal Government did not drop the contempt charges against them.

Many Nigerians have been severely impacted by the government’s anti-poor policies, particularly the elimination of the subsidy.

“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,” states the letter.

The ministry took this stance because they wanted to protect the legitimacy of the judicial system and make sure no harm came to public infrastructure.

“Despite these exchanges/interventions, the labour unions on August 2 proceeded with the industrial action through public protests,” it reads.

The demonstration, it stated, had caused a disruption in the workplace and the gate of the National Assembly to be torn down.

According to Section 72 of the Sheriffs and Civil Process Act and Order 9 Rule 13 of the Judgement (Enforcement) Rules, “the foregoing prompted the Ministry to start contempt proceedings by filing Form 48 on the same 2nd August 2023.

It was further explained that “it is trite that issuance of Form 48 is just the starting point in contempt proceedings which will only crystallize upon the issuance of Form 49 and the consequential committal order.”

Given President Bola Tinubu’s intervention and the unions’ decision to end their strike, the 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,” the document said.

“It should go without saying that the contempt proceedings are inconclusive as of August 4, due to the lack of Form 49 issuance.

Therefore, the labor unions may benefit from your counsel or recommendations regarding the method and practice of contempt procedures.

“Also, the issues or concerns raised by NLC in its communique on the proceedings have been overtaken by events,” it added.