Justice Polycarp Hamman of the National industrial court in today’s hearing adjourned a suit filed by the Federal government against the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) till Friday September 16th 2022. The court adjourned the case to enable the parties involved in the hearing to file more processes.
Quick catch-up
Last Thursday, September 8th, Nigeria’s Minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, wrote the industrial court requesting it to honor a hearing of a suit against ASUU. The suit by the federal government seeks to
- Determine if it is legal for ASUU to receive pay for the period of the strike
- Determine whether ASUU has the right to embark on a strike over disputes, as is the case in this instance, by compelling the federal government to employ University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) in the payment of the wages of its members.
In case you missed it
ASUU has been on strike since February 14th, following the federal government’s failure to address the university’s union demands. The lectures union demanded for a: “Renegotiation of the ASUU-FGN 2009 agreement; release of revitalization funds for universities; deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers; release of earned allowances; and the release of the white paper report of the visitation panels to universities.”
- Several unions in the country, including Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) pleaded ASUU’s cause to the federal government.
- The federal government stance according to the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu was that it had met the union’s demand except the payment of 6 months’ salary arrears.