From Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
An Awka High Court has returned the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to motor parks and garages in Anambra State after 16 years.
The court restrained the state government, its agent, servants, privies, workmen and/or cohorts from treating the state chapter of NURTW as a body or entity prohibited or outlawed in the state.
Delivering judgment in a suit filed by NURTW against the state government, Justice D. A. Onyefulu declared treatment of NURTW as a body or an entity prohibited or outlawed in the state by the defendant, its agents, servants, privies, workmen and/or cohorts null, void and of no legal consequence.
NURTW, through its legal counsel, Arthur Obi Okafor (SAN) had sued the state government asking for a declaration that the NURTW (Prohibition) Law 1999 which became Law No. 6 of 2000 was repealed by the provisions of Section 40 of the Anambra State Park Administration and Management Bureau Law of 2005 (Law No. 12 of 2005) and was, therefore, no longer in force in the state.
The plaintiff’s counsel applauded the judgment as he said the return of NURTW would offer employment to at least 5,000 workers, and reduce unemployment and crime rate in the state.
He regretted that NURTW had been prohibited from operating only in Anambra, out of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) since 2000.