The National Industrial Court‘s decision ordering the academics to end their strike is being appealed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
At the time of writing this report, Mr. Femi Falana, the union’s attorney, said that he was drafting the grounds for appeal.
Since academic activities have been suspended at the majority of government-owned universities for more than seven months, the ASUU’s industrial action has continued to have a negative impact on the country’s tertiary education system.
The debate over the government’s Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) being used as the payment system in the university sector, among other things, caused the teachers to stop working on February 14, 2022.
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They had also denounced the inadequate funding of universities, the nonpayment of some of their coworkers’ salaries and allowances, and the government’s inability to pay lecturers’ deserved academic allowances.
However, due to the failure of multiple agreements between the union and the government, efforts to get the academics back to class have so far been ineffective.
The government made the decision to sue the union amid complaints about the effects of the industrial action and after appearing to have exhausted all other alternatives.
In order to prevent ASUU from continuing the strike, the government filed a motion for an interlocutory injunction through its main attorney, Mr. James Igwe.
Justice Polycarp Hamman issued an order in response to the government’s application, preventing ASUU from carrying out the strike until the lawsuit’s outcome.
He commanded that the case file be forwarded to the Industrial Court president for reassignment to another judge because he was on vacation.
The judge contends that public university students who cannot afford to attend private postsecondary schools suffer as a result of the strike.
He continued by saying that once a dispute has been referred to the industrial court, workers are prohibited from going on strike under the Trade Dispute Act.
Justice Hamman upheld the government’s plea, declaring it to be worthy and granted, however she declined to impose a fee as the ASUU had requested.
