On Friday, the Nigeria Labour Congress, also known as NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, also known as TUC, along with their respective affiliates, were ordered by the National Industrial Court to refrain from engaging in any kind of strike or other type of industrial action.
Both of the labor unions were given the directive to call off their planned nationwide strike, which was set to begin on November 14.
The restraining order was issued by the President of the Court, Justice Benedict Bakwaph Kanyip, in response to an ex-parte application to that effect that was submitted to the Court by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice.
In order to issue the restraining order against the organized labor, Justice Kanyip used provisions 17 and 19 of the National Industrial Court Act.
In the ex parte motion, the Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Government, represented by their attorney Tijani Gazali, pleaded with the court to prevent the scheduled strike.
They stated that this was done to prevent untold hardships from being imposed on law-abiding persons and their businesses, and that this was the reason for doing so.
Gazali, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and the Director of Civil Appeals in the Federal Ministry of Justice, drew Justice Kanyip’s attention to a series of hardships suffered by Nigerians on Thursday alone when the labor unions blocked entrances to the main Airports in the country while arguing the ex-parte application. These hardships were caused by the blocking of the entrances to the Airports by the labor unions.
He urged that if the strike that was planned was not stopped, there was a possibility that there would be a breakdown of peace in the country.
The judge, who was convinced by the grounds presented by the government, stated that it is within the authority of the court to interfere in the form of a restraining order in order to guarantee peace and serenity in the area.
He then went on to comply with all of the requests made by the federal government, which were detailed in the motion document.
In addition, Justice Kanyip issued an order that the restraining order be affixed to the wall of the structure that houses the two defendants’ previous known residence in an effort to bring their attention to the stance that the Court has taken.
Along with this, the judge commanded that the order, as well as the originating and other processes, be served by publication in two of the most prominent national daily.
In the meantime, the case file has been sent to Justice Olufunke Anuwe, who is rumored to be handling similar cases involving labor disputes.
