National Industrial Court Orders ASUU to Call off Strike

• ASUU says, our lawyer is filing an appeal and stay of execution of the judgment.
• NANS describes NICN ruling as black market judgment.

The National Industrial Court (NICN) has ordered the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off strike and to go back to work.

The Court made the order on Wednesday during the hearing of the suit filed by the government against ASUU.

Justice Polycap Hamman, delivering ruling on the interlocutory injunction filed by the federal government, restrained ASUU for continuing with the industrial action pending the determination of the suit.

Recall, ASUU has been on strike since February 14 to press home the demand for improved funding for universities, a review of salaries for lecturers, among other issues.

Several meetings between ASUU and the federal government have ended in a deadlock.

Consequently, the federal government went to court to challenge the strike.

The Federal Government in a suit, prayed for the order for ASUU to call off its seven months strike.

The Minister of Labour and Employment on behalf of the federal overnment had filed the matter before the court by way of referral to resolve the issue of the ongoing strike by ASUU.

The government through its counsel, James Igwe prayed the court for an interlocutory injunction restraining ASUU from taking further steps as regards the strike, pending the determination of the substantive suit.

In a swift reaction to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) order, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has asked its members to remain calm.

The union in a statement signed by the Lagos Zonal Coordinator, Dr Adelaja Odukoya, quotes the National President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, as saying, “our lawyer is filing an appeal and stay of execution of the judgment.”

In the statement titled, “NICN back to work order on ASUU: Be calm”, Prof Osodeke urged members of the union to remain calm as there is no cause for alarm on the back to work order delivered earlier today.

“Members should remain resolute and strong. A people united can never be defeated. Solidarity without compromise,’’ Osodeke stated.

In a related development, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has described the NICN ruling as black market judgment.

The National Public Relations Officer of NANS, Giwa Temitope, described the NICN ruling as a “black market judgment”.

According to him, the judgment betrayed equity because the Federal Government should not have dragged ASUU before the industrial court abinitio.

Temitope posited that the only solution to the ongoing strike is for the government to meet the demands of the union, which they willingly entered into with ASUU.

“Our attention has been drawn to a news of a court judgment mandating the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its 7-month-strike. As an association, we feel disturbed to read the news of the judgment because we believe that it betrays equity.

“Ordinarily, the federal government is not meant to have dragged ASUU to the industrial court. But, the fact that they had to drag ASUU to court is a signal that this government cannot handle crisis. And, we want to state categorically that the court cannot force members of ASUU back to lecture theatres.

“And, as it stands today, with that court judgment, we maintain that the court has not resolved the problem and we reject the judgment in strong terms. The court could have said that the federal government should go and pay rather than say that lecturers who are on strike should go back to classrooms.

“We were expecting the court to have understood that lecturers are on contract of personal service hence; they cannot be compelled to render a service they don’t want to render. The only remedy to this strike action is for the federal government to accede to the demands of ASUU which the government willingly entered into with them and properly fund education,” Temitope stated.

Again, the parents under the aegis of the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, in their reaction to the development, spoke through the National President, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, who called on the government and the union to obey the ruling of the court.

Danjuma  said “Since it is a court of competent jurisdiction that gave the ruling, there is no way it should not be binding on the parties involved. Already, everybody involved seems to be tired of the endless strike. The situation is heading to a dangerous dimension as students are beginning to protest and block roads all over the country.

“As parents, we are already becoming afraid that the protests could be hijacked by hoodlums and the unexpected happening. Now, there is hope that our children may go back to school soon. But our advice for the government is that they should do the needful regarding their obligations to the union members, the students, the university system and education sector as a whole.”