Senator Chris Ngige, who served as the previous minister of labor and employment, has refuted rumors that the Muhammadu Buhari administration intended to outlaw the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Ngige was responding to a comment made by Hon. Aminu Goro, a member of the House of Representatives, in which he claimed that there was a plot to deregister ASUU.
In a speech at the closing ceremony of the 9th House, Goro had asserted that Femi Gbajabiamila, the outgoing Speaker of the House and the new Chief of Staff to the President, had prevented ASUU from being banned under Buhari.
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Ngige quickly reacted, calling Hon. Goro’s narration a “cock and bull story” through his media office.
The former minister clarified that, as the Minister of Labour and Employment, he did not require presidential consent to revoke a trade union’s certificate of registration while claiming that nothing of the sort occurred under the Buhari administration.
He claims that Section 7 of the Trade Unions Act of 2004 allows the Registrar of Trade Unions to revoke a certificate unilaterally, particularly in light of ASUU’s violation of Section 37 regarding the yearly submission of audited financial statements.
He said, “They (ASUU) were in default for five years. Another Section of the Trade Dispute Act, The Essential Services Act Cap T9, permits the President to proscribe any erring Union involved in an illegal strike, but all through the 2022 ASUU Strike, neither the President nor any of his Ministers, whether in Education or Labour, mooted such an idea because the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment (HML&E) had done the right thing by the transmission of an Instrument on the issue to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), for adjudication in accordance with Section 17 of TDA, 2004.
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“So, the former President Buhari and his officials chose the path of the Rule of Law in dealing with the debilitating strike when conciliation failed instead of an arm-twisting proscription as alleged by Hon Aminu Goro.
“Hon Aminu’s narrative, which is really a cock and bull story, is designed maybe, to be sweet to the ears of the audience (his fellow outgoing members) and maybe, the outgoing Speaker at the expense of other patriotic Nigerians including the former President.
“He should be discouraged by all, including the outgoing Speaker, as no such incident ever happened on the Executive side, and hence, the painted scenario never took place at all.
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“This is by no means to say that the outgoing Speaker and Chief of Staff designated to the President did not contribute to the resolution of the issue with ASUU. He did and passionately, too, like many others on the Government side and the traditional and Religious leaders, but the ultimate solution and relief came from the Judiciary, particularly the judges of both the NICN and the Court of Appeal, who interpreted the relevant sections of the Trade Dispute Act 2004 without fear or favour and ordered ASUU back to the classroom.”
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