The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has scheduled an important meeting to consider the possibility or otherwise of suspending its eight-month-old strike.
The meeting, Naija News understands is scheduled for Sunday (today) and top on the agenda is the Appeal Court ruling which ordered the striking lecturers to return to class. A member of the union who spoke with Daily Post on condition of anonymity on Saturday revealed that the National Executive Council of ASUU would be reviewing the implications of the Appeal Court judgement. He said, “The Appeal Court ruling will be critically reviewed on Sunday and it is after that that we will know the fate of Nigerian students who have been forced to stay at home for almost eight months due to the Federal Government’s negligence. “Ngige and the Buhari government failed to understand that even if they force the union to resume work, they cannot force the lecturers to teach the Nigerian students whose future have been jeopardized”. Recall that ASUU has been on strike since February 14, 2022, and despite various meetings between the union and the federal government on how to resolve the crisis, no agreement could be reached. Following the impasse, the government dragged ASUU before the National Industrial Court with the court on September 24, ordering the lecturers to return to the classes while negotiations continue. Not satisfied, ASUU appealed the judgement. However, the Appeal Court on Friday ruled against ASUU, upheld the decision of the lower court and ordered the immediate suspension of the strike pending the determination of the substantive suit.We Will Review The Judgement
In an immediate reaction to the Appeal Court ruling, ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke said on Friday that the union is yet to receive the ruling but will review and make the next step public when it does. He said, “We have not received the ruling, when we get it, we will review it with our lawyer and then we can take the next step”.FG May Charge ASUU For Contempt
Meanwhile, following the Court of Appeal’s rule asking the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its strike, the Federal Government has threatened to sue the union if they fail to resume as ruled by the National Industrial Court. While issuing this threat in an interview on Channel TV, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, revealed that he had directed labour controllers to monitor compliance at all tertiary institutions across the states. According to him, he has ordered controllers in the 36 states and the zones to reach out to the universities to ascertain that the vice-chancellors have opened the gates because that is one of the imports of the judgment of the Industrial Court. Ngige said that his controllers will give him a report on if the university gates have been opened as well as the classroom doors to see if the teachers reported today.This article was originally published on Naija News
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