The Supreme Court has set aside Appeal Court’s Judgment against the Staff of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS) in a matter brought by All Staff of the Nigeria Union Teachers (NUT).
NUT and ASUSS have been at logger heads since the year 2008, in a conflict over which union has control over the other.
Recall that In 2008, the then Federal Minister of Labour approved the establishment of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools and directed the Registrar of Trade Union to issue a Certificate of Registration to the secondary school teachers.
With this directive, NUT was now restricted to the control of only primary schools, this according to reports, did not go down well with Nigerian Union of Teachers.
To this end, NUT filed a suit at the Federal High Court, seeking for an Order to restrain the Ministry and the Registrar of the Trade Union not to issue the Certificate.
The suit was said to have been challenged by ASUSS on the ground of jurisdiction.
The Court of Appeal then upheld the ruling of the Federal High Court. And this judgment was further challenged by ASUSS at the Supreme Court.
Justice Centas Nwaeze of the Supreme Court, set aside the Court of Appeal judgment, saying that the panel that was set up to look into the matter was not properly constituted.
Speaking shortly after the judgment, the National President of ASUSS, Comr. Samuel Omaji, commended the Supreme Court Justices for their reasoning and fairness. According to him, “We came from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, because we felt that what they did was very wrong. The battle was a mighty one, we have been on it since the year 2014. We thank God that today we have gotten the victory,” he said.
Also speaking, the Counsel to ASUSS, Afolabi Olayiwola, Esq. said that with the judgment, thirty years of litigation has come to an end. He therefore congratulated all secondary school teachers across the nation over this victory, commenting that he was glad that ASUSS has now been empowered to control the activities of all secondary schools in Nigeria.
1 thought on “Supreme Court Withdraws Control of Secondary Schools from NUT, ASUSS to Take Over”
Everyone has the right to join association or union he Dem fit to join, as long as it’s not in conflicts with the Constitution of the country. There the secondary School teachers in the country want to be free from NUT so it be.
Everyone has the right to join association or union he Dem fit to join, as long as it’s not in conflicts with the Constitution of the country. There the secondary School teachers in the country want to be free from NUT so it be.