…lecturers to appeal court ruling
…students kick against order
The National Industrial Court ordered the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its strike and return back to work.
Presiding over the case at the National Industrial Court Justice Polycarp Hamman said the order to the union was in line with Section 18 of Trade Dispute Act, which allowed the court to order an end to strike when national interest was at stake.
Delivering a ruling on the government’s application, Justice Polycarp Hamman restrained ASUU from continuing with the industrial action, pending the determination of the suit.
He ordered that the case file should be returned to the president of the Industrial Court for reassignment to another judge, as he is a vacation judge.
According to the judge, the strike is detrimental to public university students who cannot afford to attend private tertiary institutions.
He added that the Trade Dispute Act mandates workers not to embark on strike once an issue has been referred to the industrial court.
Justice Hamman upheld the application of the government, saying it was meritorious and granted, but refused to fine the government as demanded by ASUU.
However, ASUU will appeal the ruling of the which ordered the lecturers to call off their ongoing strike.
Femi Falana, who is the counsel to the union, confirmed this on Wednesday hours after the ruling of the court, saying he was preparing the grounds of appeal.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has faulted the court judgement that mandated ASUU to call of its 7 month strike.
NANS National Public Relations Officer, Giwa Temitope, said the judgement betrayed equity.
The student union spokesperson explained that rather than direct ASUU to return to classroom, the court should have ordered the Federal Government to sort the striking lecturers.
According to the students union, the fact that they had to drag ASUU to court is a signal that this government cannot handle crisis.
The statement read, “Our attention has been drawn to a news of a court judgment mandating the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call of 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 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.”
ASUU had dropped a hint this week that lecturers could not be compelled to return to classes in the event of an order by the National Industrial Court of Arbitration.
ASUU National President, Emmanuel Osodeke, made this known during a parley with Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Osodeke, accompanied by ASUU executives, likened the scenario to a court order to force a medical doctor to treat a patient.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Mallam Adamu Adamu-led Ministry of Education, he described the seven-month strike as symptomatic of the level of decay in the university system.
Claiming the ministry never called on ASUU for a meeting to explore avenues to end the strike, he said all his members got in return was a provocative no-work-no-pay policy.
Osodeke maintained that ASUU remains blameless about the closure of public universities. He warned that the universities, which account for over 95 per cent intake of students, face the risk of depreciating to the level of public primary schools within the next 10 years.
