The Nigeria Labour Congress on Tuesday defied a downpour in Abuja as it commenced a series of mass rallies against the passage of a bill seeking its decentralisation.
Unlike its previous rallies which held on major streets, the Tuesday protest was restricted to the Labour House, Abuja.
The rally coincided with the refusal by an Abuja High Court to grant a request by NLC to stop the National Assembly from passing the controversial Trade Union Amendment Bill 2004 sent to the National Assembly for passage by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Earlier, workers who were led by the NLC President, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, and some leaders of civil society groups were prevented by policemen from holding the rally on the streets of Abuja.
The policemen, who came in 20 vehicles, laid siege to the road leading to the Labour House, conducting thorough searches on passers-by.
According to the leader of the police team, Mr. Lawrence Alobi, they were under instruction to ensure that NLC did not stage the rally on the streets of Abuja.
In an attempt to convince the team to leave the entrance of the building, Oshiomhole said, the road was a property of NLC and constructed by the NLC. So it is a private property and that the police had no authority to be there.
He said, �We are no longer going to the National Assembly, we have decided not to even go round the city, but we want you to know that whatever happens today will determine yours and mine future and the unborn generation.�
Addressing the rally, Oshiomhole said those in government should not think that if they managed to pass the bill, workers would remain dormant.
He said, �If the political leaders want to try us and pass the bill and increase fuel prices, we will call out the workers with the coalition of all trade unions and organise a mother-of-all strikes throughout the country.�
Labour, however, suffered a major setback in its bid to avert its decentralisation when an Abuja High Court said it would be improper for it to prevent the National Assembly from performing its constitutional duty of law making.
Ruling on an exparte application brought by the central labour organisation, to stop the National Assembly from passing the bill, Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, held that the judiciary would not unduly interfere with the work of the legislature.
Baba-Yusuf, however, said that inasmuch as he was prepared to grant NLC leave to enforce its rights, he would not make the leave operate as a stay.
To make the leave operate as a stay, he reasoned, would amount to the judiciary arrogating to itself, the power to teleguide the legislature.
According to him, it was premature for NLC to ask that the hands of the legislature be tied on the proposed amendment of the Trade Dispute Act.
The judge said that the National Assembly might even correct the alleged infractions, which NLC found objectionable in the proposed bill, before its passage.
He held that even though the courts had a wide power of adjudication, such power did not include interfering with the legitimate duty of the National Assembly.
He was of the view that the courts' power to adjudicate on a law made by the legislature would come into existence after the lawmakers had made the law.
Interfering with the lawmakers' duty, he argued, would impinge on the principles of separation of powers.
Baba-Yusuf held that the powers conferred on the courts by section 6 (6) (b) of the 1999 constitution were without prejudice to the powers of the lawmakers to make law.
He consequently declined to make the leave granted to NLC operate as a stay on the proposed amendment and adjourned the matter till September 3.
Obasanjo had in the bill sought the decentralisation of NLC.
This did not go down well with NLC, which mobilised its affiliate unions and instructed Mr. Femi Falana to file a suit against the government.
Falana had on Friday addressed the court in chambers asking for leave to enforce the fundamental rights of Nigerian workers.
At the Senate, tension reigned during an emergency sitting convened to discuss the bill.
Before the sitting ended, 32 out of the 60 senators that were in attendance tactically sneaked out of the chamber.
Before the bill sailed through the second reading, a call for caution by Senator Olorunnibe Mamora attracted harsh criticisms from the Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, and his deputy, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu.
Mamora drew the ire of the two principal officers when he read out the outcome of an independent opinion poll that showed that the amendment did not enjoy the support of the majority of the Nigerian people.
Wabara particularly took exception to Mamora's comments, saying that the Senate would not condone such uncomplimentary remarks from one of its own, irrespective of how strongly he (Mamora) felt about the issue.
Mantu descended heavily on Mamora and his opinion poll, saying that such reports had proved to be unrealistic and unreliable in the past.
Highlights of amendments to the bill were the provisions that is seeking to outlaw strikes as instruments of bargain and another section make membership of trade unions voluntary.
Others include a provision seeking to give discretionary powers to an incumbent Labour Minister to allow or reject the fusion of trade unions, while the fourth to made cheque-off dues voluntary for union members.
The Senate is expected to hold a public hearing on the bill on Wednesday (today).
