After Court of Appeal’s decision instructing the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to end its strike, the Federal Government has threatened to prosecute the union if it does not continue as ordered by the National Industrial Court.
In an interview with Channel TV, Dr Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, stated that he had asked labor controllers to verify compliance at all tertiary institutions throughout 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.
He, however, noted that the Education Ministry through the National Universities Commission (NUC) will also do their bit and “we will compare it. By Tuesday, if they have complied with this, first, they will have the right to appeal as the court says.”
“If they come back to their classroom, they will have time to attach evidence and do their appeal. My labour controllers will also give me things to support education in the country. If they don’t, go and read that portion of the NICN Act, they will be charged for contempt,” he said.
Meanwhile, the union’s national president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke reacted on behalf of the union, saying ASUU will study the ruling of the appeal court which ordered its members to return back to work.
Recall that the Court of Appeal gave the directive on Friday while granting leave to ASUU to appeal the interlocutory injunction of Justice Polycarp Hamman of the Abuja Division of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) on September 21, 2022, asking members of the union to resume work.
The presiding Judge, Justice Hamma Akawu Barka, warned that if ASUU fails to resume, it will automatically lose its right to appeal against the ruling of the lower court.
Justice Barka struck out the application by ASUU for a stay of execution of the order of the Industrial Court, based on the motion by the applicant’s counsel, Femi Falana (SAN), for the withdrawal of the application.
The Chairman of the three-man panel, Justice Barka, ordered ASUU to file its notice of appeal on the ruling of the lower court within seven days.
ASUU on the 23rd of September, 2022 had filed 14 grounds appeal against the ruling of the Industrial Court of Nigeria which ordered lecturers to return to classrooms.
Justice Hamman Polycarp of the Industrial Court while passing the order noted that the order was both in the national interest and for the sake of undergraduates in the country that had been at home since February 14.
