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The Hon. President of the National Industrial Court, Hon. Justice Benedict Kanyip, Ph.D. has dismissed the case filed by Petroleum Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria against the Academic Staff Union of Universities, SSANU, and 3 others for lacking merit.
Justice Kanyip held that the Petroleum Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria cannot statutorily unionize the senior staff of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun and that does not mean the said senior staff will not enjoin the conditions of service obtainable in the oil and gas industry.
From facts, the claimant- PENGASSAN had submitted that by virtue of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun Act 2017 believes it is the rightful union to unionize all the senior staff of the institution, sought among others for a DECLARATION that by virtue of section 11 of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources Effurun (Establishment) Act 2017, the conditions of service of the senior staff in the Oil and Gas Industry is directly applicable to the senior staff of the Federal University of Petroleum Resources, notwithstanding that the University is an academic institution.
The Union contended that the draftsmen of the legislation which established the University were quite purposeful to categorize the conditions of service of the employees with that which is obtainable in the Oil and Gas industry, urged the court to grant the reliefs sought.
The claimant counsel averred that while NUPENG enjoyed unrestricted right to unionize junior staff, the PENGASSAN has not enjoyed such unrestricted right given the interference of the ASUU, SSANU, and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).
However, the defendant failed to file any defense but counsel to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) orally submitted as a friend of the Court that no evidence of the employment letters of the said applicants that want to join the union and no conditions of service of the University, nor the constitution of PENGASSAN has been frontloaded, urged the Court to dismiss the suit.
Delivering the judgment, the presiding Judge, Justice Benedict Kanyip held that the Jurisdictional scope of trade unions under the Trade Union Act is not governed by conditions of service and the argument of the ASUU that the PENGASSAN did not frontload the conditions of service of the University and the constitution of PENGASSAN is feeble as these documents are not central to determining the question posed whether it is the PENGASSAN that can unionize the senior staff of the University.
The Court held that the Federal University of Petroleum Resources is a University and PENGASSAN cannot unionize its senior staff even with section 11 of the FUPRE Act 2017 that the conditions of service of the University are to be the same as obtainable in the oil and gas industry.
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