The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has a significant political impact in Nigeria, which the federal government wants to lessen.
On February 14, the union started an industrial action and held its ground for eight months, forcing public universities to close.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is being urged by the government to permit the establishment of two new academic unions.
Chris Ngige, the minister of labour and employment, made the request on Tuesday in a statement issued by Olajide Oshundun, the ministry’s head of public relations.
The government had already sent letters of recognition to the unions, Congress for Nigerian University Academics (CONUA) and Nigeria Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA).
NLC President Ayuba Wabba responded by requesting the letters be withdrawn on the grounds that their registration broke the rules governing labour unionism.
Ngige, however, pleaded with the NLC in his response to permit the new organisations to exist in accordance with the spirit of freedom of association.
The minister said that under the Trade Dispute Act of 2004, he had sole authority to establish new trade unions or to reorganise existing ones.
Ngige clarified that the new unions were the byproducts of regrouping and that two committees within his ministry had the authority to assess their applications.
According to the official, CONUA and NAMDA were reorganised from ASUU for system efficiency and effectiveness.
“Comrade President, do not unnecessarily oppose the registration of these new academic unions. As an uncle of the unions, oppose none in the spirit of Freedom of Association”, he noted.
Ngige referenced a case in the National Industrial Court of Nigeria to highlight his authority to establish unions under Section 3 (2) of the Trade Dispute Act, CAP T14 (NICN).
The Federal Parastatals and Private Sector Pensioners Association of Nigeria (FEPPAN), which was reorganised from the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), and the case implicated both organisations.
Ngige recalled that the NICN upheld its first decision that the Minister of Labour and Employment had the authority to register trade unions in suit NICN/ABJ/219/2019.
