The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, has cautioned labour unions against the indefinite strike they plan to embark on to protest the hardships associated with petrol subsidy removal.
The labour unions comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had, on Tuesday, declared their plan to embark on the indefinite nationwide strike on 3 October.
The AGF, who doubles as the Minister of Justice, issued the warning on behalf of the federal government against the strike in a letter he addressed to the unions’ lawyer, Femi Falana.
In the letter dated 26 September but made public on Thursday by Modupe Ogundoro, director of press at the Federal Ministry of Justice, the minister reminded the labour unions of a subsisting court order issued in a pending suit at the industrial court concerning the dispute.
Mr Fagbemi said the proposed strike “is in clear violation of the pending interim injunctive order granted on 5 June 2023, restraining both Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress from embarking on any industrial action.”
The AGF highlighted the developments leading to the latest threat by the labour unions to go on a nationwide strike.
He referenced the exchange of correspondence between his ministry and Mr Falana’s law firm “before and after the nationwide ‘action/protest’ declared by the NLC on 2 August 2023.”
“Whilst your clients had maintained that the nationwide protest by NLC is in furtherance of its constitutional right to embark on protests, the Ministry has repeatedly advised on the need to advise your clients to refrain from resorting to self-help and taking actions capable of undermining subsisting orders of a court of competent jurisdiction,” Mr Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), wrote.
The labour unions had been battling with the federal government since President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy at his inauguration on 29 May.