ASUU Strike: Students Reject Court Order

Students under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) have kicked against the order by the National Industrial Court (NIC) for members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to return to work.

AllNews Nigeria reports that the court on Wednesday ruled in favour of the federal government, commanding the striking lecturers to call off the ongoing strike by its national body and resume duties.

The federal government had recently requested the NIC to order ASUU back to work after several attempts by both parties to resolve the impasse.

The seven-month-old industrial action by ASUU commenced on February 14, 2022, due to the government's reluctance to meet the demands of the lecturers.

Reacting, however, through a statement, the National Public Relations Officer of NANS, Giwa Temitope, maintained that the judgement by the court goes against equity.

He added that the court should have ordered the government to meet the demands of ASUU rather than order the lectures back to work.

Giwa said the government opting for a lawsuit in the first place shows its incapability to resolve problems.

“Our attention has been drawn to 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 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 a 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,” the statement read.