The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will appeal Wednesday’s ruling of the National Industrial Court which ordered the union to suspend its seven-month-old strike.
In his ruling, Justice Polycarp Hamman had observed that the strike action has had impacts on the lives of the students, and that it was obvious that the legal adviser of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment had access to legal issues relating to the trade dispute.
But the students’ body – the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) – disagreed with Justice Hamman as they showed solidary for the lecturers. NANS said after the judgment that except the government acceded to ASUU’s demands, it would continue to mobilise its members nationwide to obstruct free flow of traffic in major Nigerian cities.
In Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, the Chairman of NANS National Taskforce on #EndASUUStrikeNow, Raymond Ojo said the students are more united now to defend their common interest.
He Ojo said the students would unleash their “anger and frustration” on the Nigerian government until public universities are reopened.
He said: “NANS will continue to ground all the nation’s public assets from roads to airports, including Nigeria Ports Authority if the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment fail to resolve with the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in no distant time.
“Our blocking of access to public roads and ports is just a warning. If the government fails to conclude all the negotiation and agreement with ASUU within the frame of two weeks, they will witness more protests and rallies all over the country.
“They will also witness the annoyance, anger and frustration of Nigerian students who have been at home for the past seven months. As we promise them that we will not allow any political campaign to hold across the country until we are back to class.
“This government has pushed so many Nigerians students into depression. We say enough is enough; we can no longer bear the brunt from this avoidable crisis in our nation’s public ivory towers again”.
Mr Ojo also called on Nigerians to join them in their struggle to “rescue tertiary education from further collapse”.
“Either court rules in favour or against ASUU, the students will not relent in our resolve to disrupt government and public organisations including campaigns if our lecturers are not back to classrooms”, he added.
Also, the National Coordinator of Education Rights Campaign, Hassan Soweto described the court verdict as unfair and shameful, saying it is a confirmation of his belief that “the judiciary is simply an arm of the apparatus of the capitalist state, just as the police and the army”.
He called on the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to declare a 48-hour nationwide warning strike in reaction to the court order.
He alleged that the Nigerian court’s role “is to defend the interest of the corrupt ruling elite who are busy stealing the money required to fund public education.
“At this stage, all we can say is that our solidarity with ASUU on its resolve to fight for adequate funding of public universities remains unshakeble despite this court order.
“We urge the NLC and TUC not to allow the government use the court to frustrate the legitimate struggle of ASUU. We call on the labour movement to respond to this unfair court order by escalating action into a 48 hour warning general strike and mass protest”.
