FG Withdraws Contempt Suit Against Labour, NLC May Suspend Strike

The Federal Government abandoned its contempt suit against leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress for organizing nationwide anti-subsidy protests on August 2, 2023, on Monday.

The incident occurred only five days after the Federal Ministry of Justice sued organized labor leaders for allegedly breaching a court order prohibiting them from leading the nationwide demonstration.

The National Industry Court had prevented the union from going on strike, but human rights lawyer and union counsel Femi Falana claimed the union could go ahead with the demonstration.

On Wednesday evening, organized labor met with President Bola Tinubu and agreed to call off the one-day protest.

This was in exchange for the Federal Government agreeing to approve labor awards and speed the implementation of subsidy palliatives.

Despite the deal, the Ministry of Justice sued organized labor for contempt of court, which infuriated labor leaders, who later announced preparations to launch a statewide strike on August 14.

However, the Federal Ministry of Justice announced on Monday that the government had decided not to proceed with the contempt suit.

In a letter dated August 7, 2023, and written to the Nigeria Labour Congress via their lawyer, Femi Falana SAN, the ministry stated that the contempt proceedings brought against the congress for embarking on a statewide protest last Wednesday were no longer valid.

The letter, issued by Beatrice Jeddy-Agba, the Permanent Secretary, indicated that the ministry filed contempt proceedings prior to the involvement of the President and the National Assembly.

The letter addressed to NLC’s counsel, Femi Falana read, “The attention of the Federal Ministry of Justice has been drawn to the Communique issued by the Nigeria Labour Congress on 3 August 2023 wherein NC announced the suspension of its nationwide protests and criticized the contempt summons issued by the National Industrial Court (*Court”), amongst other issues.

“Kindly recall the exchange of correspondence between the Ministry and your Office on the need for compliance with the extant court orders, restraining industrial action of any kind by the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress. The need to safeguard the integrity of the court and prevent avoidable service disruption or damages to public facilities informed the position of the Ministry.

“However, despite these exchanges/interventions, the labour unions on 2nd August 2023 proceeded with the industrial action through public protests which led to disruption of work and the eventual pulling down of the gate of the National Assembly. The foregoing prompted the Ministry to initiate contempt proceedings by filing 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.”

The letter further read, “It is trite that issuance of Form 48 is just the starting point in contempt proceedings which will only crystalize upon the issuance of Form 49 and the consequential committal order. 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 the issuance of Form 48.

“It is self-evident that the non-issuance of Form 49 as of 4th of 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 communiqué on the proceedings have been overtaken by events.”

To avert a strike by the labor movement last month, the FG obtained an order from the National Industrial Court preventing the NLC and the Trade Union Congress from embarking on any strike action over issues relating to “removal of fuel subsidy, hike in petrol prices, and consequential increase in the cost of living,” pending the outcome of the suit.

In a statement, Jedy-Agba encouraged the NLC to rescind the seven-day notice it gave on its plan to launch a statewide strike on August 2 if labor union demands were not met.

In a statement issued on July 26, the justice ministry warned that the union’s planned strike would be considered contempt of court, which is punishable by imprisonment.

According to the FG, such a strike would amount to self-help because the matter was already in court.

However, unsatisfied with the delayed negotiation process with the FG and the delay in implementing palliatives to alleviate the pains of subsidy removal, organized labor declared a statewide protest against the court injunction.

Falana, SAN, on the other hand, insisted that the scheduled demonstration was legal.

As a result, the Wednesday protests paralyzed economic and commercial activity statewide, resulting in the closure of banks, offices, and courts in various states.

As retaliation for the labor leaders’ stubbornness, the Federal Government started a contempt of court prosecution against them, which enraged the unions.

In a phone conversation with The PUNCH on Monday, National Assistant Secretary Chris Onyeka said that in light of the letter from the Federal Ministry of Justice, the congress would call an organ meeting and provide appropriate orders on the next course of action.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly’s upper chamber will meet with organized labor in Abuja on Tuesday (today), according to NLC National President Joe Ajaero.

Ajaero also stated that labor leaders will hold the administration accountable for any agreement struck.

Speaking during an interview with Channels Television which was closely monitored by one of our correspondents, Ajaero said, “Just like you rightly said, the protest was suspended due to the intervention of the Senate and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. When we suspended the protest, the Senate vowed to get back to us within one week and just this evening, we got a notice that we have been invited for a meeting with them tomorrow (Tuesday). On the other issues, we are yet to get the modalities on the restructured negotiating team. “We are going to do our jobs as labour leaders and we will not be tired. We expect the government to respect every agreement reached.”