The National Industrial Court in Abuja yesterday declined to grant the prayers of the federal government to direct the striking Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) to resume classes pending the determination of a suit challenging the industrial dispute.
Recall that strike which is in its seventh month seven-month began on February 14, 2022.
The union said it had to go on strike following the failure of the government to honour the previous agreements reached with the union.
Some of the union’s demands include the release of revitalisation funds for universities, payment of lecturers’ earned allowances, deployment of University Transparency Accountability System as the payment platform for university lecturers, renegotiation of the ASUU-FG 2009 agreement among others.
At the resumed sitting, counsel for the federal government, Mr. James Ikwe, requested the court to direct ASUU to resume work pending the determination of the suit.
However, the defendant’s counsel, Mr. Femi Falana, opposed the request, stating that it would amount to determining the substantive suit.
Justice Justice P. l. Hammam who agreed with Falana said it was the issue for determination and therefore could not be resolved before the hearing.
Meanwhile, the application brought by SERAP seeking to be joined as an interested party in the suit was not heard as the counsel filed another application, which was only served yesterday on the party.
SERAP’s counsel prayed the court to withdraw the earlier application and substitute same with the current one. The court subsequently struck out the earlier application.
The lawyer also argued that for the sake of justice, his application should be heard before entertaining other matters related to the suit.
For his part, counsel to the defendant, Falana, agreed that in the interest of justice and clarity, it would be proper to hear the application brought by SERAP pertaining to the same matter before the determination of other issues.
He, however, added that the defendant (ASUU) was making moves to meet with stakeholders to ensure that the matter was resolved and asked for adjournment for completion of the process of filing that has commenced.
In response, counsel to the Federal Government asked the court to give the substantive suit brought before the court accelerated hearing because of the urgency of the matter to enable students to return to their schools.
He also contended that SERAP’s application was not ripe for hearing because it had not been served to him.
The court, in its ruling, agreed that SERAP’s application was not yet ripe for hearing since it was only served yesterday to the party through the Ministry of Justice.
The judge consequently adjourned the suit to Monday, September 19, for hearing.
