By Daniel Tyokua
The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN)) in Abuja on Monday adjourned ruling on a motion filed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Nyesom Wike, to stop the strike by FCTA, until Tuesday, January 27.
The workers had on January 19, embarked on an industrial action over alleged unresolved welfare issues they said included a backlog of five months of unpaid salaries; long-outstanding promotion arrears; as well as poor working conditions in the FCT.
Wike had in the suit, among other things, asked the court to compel the striking workers to return to their duty posts.
Mentioned as defendants in the suit marked: NICN/ABJ/17/2026, are Rifkatu Iortyer and Abdullahi Saleh, President and Secretary of the Joint Union Action Congress (JUAC), respectively.
At the resumed proceedings in the matter, counsel to the defendants, Maxwell Opara, prayed the court to also join the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) as defendants.
He argued that their inclusion would ensure that they would be bound by any order the court would make in the matter.
The application was opposed by the claimants’ lawyer, James Onoja, SAN, who insisted that the matter could be effectively decided without the NLC and the TUC.
Onoja contended that the suit was properly constituted, stressing that the defendants on record are not registered under the Trade Union Act.
He urged the court to accede to prayers in the suit by directing the striking workers to immediately resume their duties, lamenting that the ongoing industrial action has crippled essential services within the FCT.
Before adjourning the case till Tuesday to rule on the request for a restraining order, Justice Emmanuel Subilim declined to join the NLC and TUC as defendants in the suit.
The judge held that, since both unions were not sued by the claimants, it is not the place of the court to order their inclusion as defendants in the matter.
Meanwhile, the protesting workers besieged the court premises with placards to register their displeasure over the decision of the FCT Minister to initiate a legal action against them.
After listening to arguments by counsels to the plaintiff and the respondents, he fixed Tuesday, January 27, for ruling.
