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From Adanna Nnamani, Abuja
The federal government has backed down from plans to initiate contempt proceedings against the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) in an effort to prevent organised labour from embarking on yet another nationwide strike.
Last week, the Federal Ministry of Justice threatened to file a contempt of court case against the labor leaders before Nigeria’s National Industrial Court for allegedly failing to abide by the court orders that prohibited the unions from engaging in industrial action.
It claimed that on August 2, 2023, the labour unions carried out industrial action over a dispute involving fuel subsidies by holding open demonstrations.
However, the NLC quickly called an emergency meeting of its National Executive Council in Abuja and issued a warning that it would call a general strike if its leaders were brought up in court by the federal government at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) on charges of contempt.
The NLC asked for the immediate withdrawal of what it described as, “litigious terrorism by the Federal Ministry of Justice before the end of work Friday, the 1st of August, 2023.”
The Solicitor General of the Federation, Mrs. B.E. Jeddy-Agba, stated that the Justice Ministry has withdrawn the contempt case in a letter sent to the NLC’s lead attorney, Femi Falana, yesterday.
In a letter to Falana Chambers dated August 7 and signed by Jeddy-Agba, it was stated that:“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 thc issuance of Form 48.”
It said, “It is self-evident that the non-issuance of Form 49 as at 4th 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.”
The position of the Ministry, according to Jeddy-Agba, was motivated by the need to protect the court’s integrity against needless service interruptions or damage to public facilities, she continued.
She recalled the correspondence between Falana and the Ministry regarding the necessity to abide by the current court rulings, which restrained all forms of industrial action on the side of the NLC and TUC.
She did, however, point out that on August 2, 2023, the labor unions went forward with their industrial action through public pretests, which ultimately resulted in the pulling down of the National Assembly gate.
“The foregoing prompted the Ministry to initiate contempt proceedings by tiling 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 Judgment (Enforcement) Rules. It is trite that issuance of Form 48 is just the starting point in contempt proceedings which will only crystalise upon the issuance of Form 49 and the consequential committal order,” she said.
