In a recent ruling, Justice Maureen Esowe of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) sitting in Lagos has dissolved the Lagos State Parks and Garages and reinstated the operations of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in the state.
This ruling has nullified the state government’s appointment of a caretaker committee and declared it illegal.
The RTEAN had instituted a lawsuit against the Lagos State government in October 2022, challenging the government for dissolving the elected executive committee of the union in the state and appointing a caretaker body, known as the Parks and Garages administrators. The lawsuit was marked NICN/LA/381/2022, News About Nigeria reports.
The judge held that the act of the Lagos State government in suspending the national unions’ operations in the state and setting up a caretaker committee is illegal and against the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended. She also restrained the state government from further interfering with the operations of the union’s executives.
The ruling has stirred reactions from different quarters, especially from the Caretaker Parks and Garages Administrator, Mc Oluomo.
Mc Oluomo, who is a chieftain of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), was appointed by the Lagos State government to oversee the Parks and Garages in the state.
Mc Oluomo, while reacting to the ruling, said that he would appeal the judgment. He maintained that the Lagos State government had acted within the ambit of the law in appointing him as the Caretaker Parks and Garages Administrator.
He further stated that his appointment had brought about sanity and orderliness in the Parks and Garages in the state. He also said that the RTEAN’s challenge of his appointment was a distraction that had impeded the progress he had made so far.
The dissolution of the Parks and Garages Administrator is expected to have a significant impact on the transportation sector in Lagos State. It remains to be seen how the Lagos State government will respond to the ruling and what effect it will have on the operations of the Parks and Garages in the state.
