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Sacked doctors: Court to rule on its power to hear case on Thursday

The National Industrial Court, sitting in Lagos will on Thursday decide whether it has jurisdiction to hear the case instituted against the Lagos State Government … Continue reading Sacked doctors: Court to rule on its power to hear case on Thursday


The National Industrial Court, sitting in Lagos will on Thursday decide whether it has jurisdiction to hear the case instituted against the Lagos State Government by the 788 medical doctors whose appointment were recently terminated.

Presiding justice Benedict Kanyip fixed the date after counsel to the two parties argued a preliminary objection filed by the State Government challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter.

The doctors in the suit instituted by both the Chairman of the Medical Guild, Olumuyiwa Odusote and the General Secretary, Idris Durojaiye, for themselves and on behalf of other members of the Guild had asked the court to void the identical dismissal letters issued to them by the government.

While arguing the objection, the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, formulated two issues for the determination of the court.

He wants the court to strike out the suit on the ground that it was brought on behalf of the Medical Guild, an entity which is not a legal entity.

Mr Ipaye had also argued that the suit cannot be sustained by the Chairman and Secretary of the Medical Guild suing for themselves and on behalf of the Guild which is not a registered trade union.

He said for the doctors to sustain the action, it is essential that they show the contract that they are relying on to the court.

The Justice Commissioner also argued that the statement of claims of the claimants disclose no reasonable cause of action as it is predicated on an agreement purportedly reached between the defendants and the claimants on the full implementation of the Consolidated Medical Salary Scale(CONMESS).

He further declared that the claimants are not employees of the Federal Civil Service and as such cannot benefit from the CONMESS as approved by the Federal Government and that the state government had no agreement with the medical doctors to implement CONMESS upon which the reliefs sought by the claimants can be based.

In his response, counsel to the sacked doctors, Bamidele Aturu, alleged that that the application to challenge the jurisdiction of the court on these grounds is a technical move.

While admitting that the Medical Guild is not an incorporated association, he observed that it was allowed by the law to sue in a representative capacity.

Mr Aturu also stressed that, “where there has been a cause of dealings between an un-incorporated association and a party on employment issues and wage related matters, the party cannot resign from recognising such an un-incorporated body for the purposes of claims before a court of competent jurisdiction”.