RTEAN Crisis: TUC Declares Monday Day of Protest in Lagos

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The face-off between the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Lagos State government over the lingering leadership crisis within the state chapter of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) has take a new dimension with the union declaring Monday as a day of protest in Lagos.

Baring any last minute intervention to resolve the dispute over the weekend, TUC said that its members and affliates will shut down commercial activities in the former capital city of Nigeria.

Addressing journalists, TUC President, Festus Osifo, said that the union has made several efforts to get the Lagos State government to obey the ruling of the court on the crisis in RTEAN but to no avail.

“Till today, the judgment of the High Court was not complied with by the Lagos State government,” he said.

Osifo said that the union has written several times to the state government, appealing to it to respect the court judgment and to ensure quick resolution of the dispute.

He said: “TUC at its last National Executive Council (NEC) meeting  frowned on the refusal of the Lagos State Government under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to abide by the National Industrial Court (NIC) ruling of April 18, 2023 ordering it to vacate the premises of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and allow the union free operation. 

“In the communiqué, TUC gave the Lagos State government a two-week ultimatum within which to obey the court order, and dispense with the impasse with RTEAN, or face a total shutdown effective 12 midnight of 18 September, 2023.”

Osifo said that all affiliates of TUC and the Lagos State Council of Congress have been directed to commence full mobilization, for the total shutdown in Lagos on Monday.

Osifo said that TUC will carry out a protest in Lagos on Monday to press home its demands after that protest.

“If the same position remains, then there is going be total shutdown in the state because for us this is clearly unacceptable,” Osifo said, adding that TUC had already notified the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Inspector General of Police (IG) to ensure that the protest is successful.

When asked about the level of intervention TUC had sort to resolve the dispute before embarking on the protest, Osifo said that the union had written to the Minister of Labour and Employment who also had reached out to the Lagos State government but without any resolution in sight.

Osifo said that though Lagos State appealed the judgment, but did not secure any stay of execution to warrant its continued refusal to implement the court ruling.

He accused the Lagos State government of ignoring all entreaties made by the union to vacate the premises of RTEAN in adherance to the court ruling.