Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, has held a meeting with a faction of the Academic Staff Union – Congress of University Academics (CONUA) – with a view to helping it officially divorce from the first.
The Corporate Affairs Commission has rejected application by CONUA to register as a bonafide group but Ngige, on Thursday, promised to intervene.
During a meeting with CONUA’s executives, he assured them that they had a right to apply for registration as an association distinct from the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
Ngige said, “You are asking for a divorce; part of our job here is to register unions. Our labour laws listed ways we can do it. We are going to apply those ways to do it. We ask you to go about your duties without breach of peace.
“This is because the Nigerian constitution in section 40, which you have rightly quoted here, gives you the right to relate with persons or like minds. And to that extent, it says that you can form trade unions, and for us as politicians, we can form political parties subject to INEC registration as a valid political party, within which you can enjoy rights as candidates and other rights associated with that.
“Your application from what you said here and from records of ministry was rejected by the registrar of trade union and you now exercise your right, which is within the trade union act to apply to the Honourable minister for review.
“That review is ongoing now. I have put up a committee to look into that and I will ask that committee to wind up their work and we are giving them four weeks from today to turn in their report to the ministry. So, I do hope that by the middle of December, we have gotten the final work of the committee.”
