Lagos, April 18, 2023 – The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) in Lagos on Tuesday revoked the appointment of a caretaker committee to manage parks and garages in Lagos State by the state government.
Delivering Judgment in the suit NICN/LA/381/2022, Justice Maureen Esowe ordered the reinstatement of the operations of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in Lagos State.
The Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) had instituted the suit in October 2022 challenging the Lagos State government for dissolving elected executive committee of the union and appointing a caretaker committee.
The judge held that the setting up of a caretaker committee was illegal and unconstitutional.
The court also restrained the state government from further interfering in the operations of the union’s executives.
It ordered the police to refrain from intimidating the union’s officers, to remove all barricades it imposed around their secretariat and to grant them unfettered access to their offices.
Esowe dismissed the defendants’ preliminary objections to the suit, saying the matter was a straightforward one with no serious dispute to warrant an exchange of pleadings.
The defendants in the suit are the Governor, the Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjom and Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa.
The other defendants are the state Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, and members of the caretaker committee.
In January, the union had through its counsel, Elisha Kurah, argued that a state could not interfere in the affairs of a trade union registered under the Trade Unions Act of 2004.
He also said that the state could not dissolve the union, explaining that such matters could only be handled by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. (GBN)
