ASUU strike: Stop chasing shadows, Falana tells FG

Posted by Nwa Diokpa Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Tuesday, October 4th, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Femi Falana, human rights advocate, has stated that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) did not engage in contempt of court over the recent verdict of the national industrial court.

African Examiner recalls that on September 21, the industrial court directed ASUU to call off its ongoing nationwide strike.
Polycarp Hamman, the judge, accepted the federal government’s application for an interlocutory injunction to restrain ASUU from continuing with the strike.

Subsequently, the union filed an appeal to seek for a stay of execution of the judgment.

Chris Ngige, the minister of labour and productivity, had cautioned ASUU against the consequences of contempt of court.

Reacting to Ngige’s comments, Falana, counsel to ASUU, in a statement on Monday, stated that the application for the leave of the court of appeal against the injunction is the same as an appeal under the rules of the court.

According to Falana, ASUU cannot be accused of contempt of court since the union is seeking to appeal and stay the execution of the judgment.

“The minister is unaware that the national industrial court lacks the jurisdictional competence to intervene in the resolution of a trade dispute that has not been determined by the industrial arbitration panel,” Falana said.

“However, contrary to the claim of the Minister that ASUU has not filed an appeal, the application for the leave of the court of appeal to appeal against the interlocutory order of injunction is deemed to be an appeal under the rules of the court of appeal.

“The application is equally accompanied by a motion for stay of execution of the said order. To that extent, the members of the ASUU cannot be accused of engaging in contempt of the order of the national industrial court in so far as they are seeking to appeal and stay the execution of the said order.

“Having exercised their constitutional right of appeal and prayed the court of appeal to stay the execution of the interlocutory order of the national industrial court pending the determination of the appeal, the members of ASUU cannot be said to have engaged in any form of contempt.

“However, instead of chasing the shadow by threatening the ASUU with contempt of court and prescription, the federal government should adopt urgent measures to end the strike that has paralysed academic activities in public universities for the past seven months.

“In particular, the federal government should take advantage of the intervention of the leadership of the house of representatives to resolve all outstanding issues and end the strike as soon as possible.”