Femi Falana, an activist-lawyer has explained why newly registered academic unions – Congress of Nigerian University Academics, CONUA, and the Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics, NAMDA, – by Labour and Employment Minister are illegal.
Falana gave a legal perspective on the face-off between the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and the Federal Government in an interview on Arise TV programme, “Newsday”on Wednesday, October 5, 2022.
The popular lawyer x-rayed the implications of floating the new academic unions.
“Under the current Labour Law regime in Nigeria, you cannot have two unions or three unions in the same sector.
“In other words, within the academia in Nigeria, there can only be one registered trade union, that is, ASUU, registered pursuant to the Trade Union Act, as amended.
“We are going to have a mushrooming of trade unions, which threatens industrial peace in the country. We cannot have two unions in the university; neither can we have two unions in other unions in the country. Politically, it won’t work,” he said.
Falana described the registration of the new unions as illegal and a desperate measure by the government to break the strike.
He said: “Government has tried various measures, but the latest one is perhaps going to embarrass the government because it is an illegal exercise and won’t work. ASUU is today one of the most organised and united trade unions in Africa.”
Source: The Nation
