The case will be filed at the National Industrial Court (NIC).
The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Thursday disclosed that it will sue the Nigerian government over the registration of two factional academic unions, to break ASUU’s monopoly and reduce its power.
The case will be filed at the National Industrial Court (NIC).
The government on Tuesday registered two factional academic unions – the Congress of Nigerian Universities Academics (CONUA) and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA).
The two factional unions were registered following a deadlock in negotiations between ASUU and the government amid the seven-month strike by lecturers of public universities.
The strike will enter its eighth month on October 14, 2022.
CONUA has said its members are ready to abandon the lingering industrial action embarked upon by ASUU.
The National Legal Adviser of CONUA, Misbau Alamu Lateef, the new union has over 1,000 university lecturers who are ready to return to class.
Lateef said this in a statement released on his Facebook page after the Nigerian government presented a certificate of registration to the union on Tuesday.
However, ASUU’s lawyer, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, told Channels Television in an interview on Thursday that ASUU would go to court to seek redress.
"ASUU is going to court. It is going to be the NIC,” he said.
According to Falani, the registration of CONUA and NAMDA is illegal.
He noted that according to the Trade Unions Act, only one union is allowed to operate in every sector.
“You can’t have two trade unions in the same sector. Only a union is allowed to be registered for all academics in Nigeria.
“That is the essence of the classification of trade unions because we used to have mushrooms in the First Republic so the government restructured the unions and grouped all academics together and all non-academics together. You can’t have two or three in one field.
"The apex court ruled that your freedom of association is not totalled; it is also regulated by the Trade Unions Act so that there will be no proliferation of trade unions,” he said.
Meanwhile, the President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, also confirmed the development in a chat with Journalists on Thursday.
“He (Falana) is our lawyer. So, that is correct,” Osodeke said when asked to confirm the development.