Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, ASUU President,

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been ordered to call off its seven-month strike by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN). ASUU stopped work on 14 February because of its grievances over funding for universities, a review of salaries for lecturers, among other issues.

Since efforts by the union and the Federal Government ended in stalemate, the federal government went to court to challenge the strike.

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

Igwe said the suit was filed in national interest, adding that the strike will result in irreparable damage to Nigerian students and to the country.

The counsel had submitted that section 18(1)E of the Trade Disputes Act provides that employees cannot be on strike when a matter is before the industrial court.

Opposing the application, Femi Falana, counsel to ASUU, said asking the union to resume work is “wrong and scandalous”.

He said there would not have been a need to embark on any strike if the applicants had kept to various agreements and MOUs reached in the past.

He also said the injunction was not necessary as there is no urgency since the strike had lasted for seven months.

Ruling on the application on Wednesday, Polycarp Hamman, the judge, granted the request.

He held that the strike is detrimental to public university students who cannot afford to attend private tertiary institutions.

He said the TDA mandates workers not to embark on strike once an issue has been referred to the industrial court.

“The balance of convenience tilts in favour of the applicant,” he held.

“I hold that this application is meritorious and this application is granted.”

The court therefore restrained “ASUU, whether by themselves, members, agents, privies or howsoever called, from taking further steps and doing any act in continuance of the strike action pending the hearing and determination of the suit filed”.

The judge also refused to fine the federal government as demanded by ASUU.

Meanwhile, Nigerian students kicked against the development. In other words, the National Association of Nigerian Students has rejected the court judgement directing striking university lecturers to return to classrooms.

In a statement signed by its National spokesperson, Giwa Yisa Temitope, the student association said that the “judgement betrays equity.”

Part of the statement read, “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.

“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.”