Will FG’s Cudgel Whip ASUU into Submission?

 IN THE ARENA

Last week’s ruling by the National Industrial Court, ordering the Academic Staff Union of Universities to immediately suspend the on-going seven-month-old industrial action apparently misread the gravity of the crisis, writes Louis Achi

The industrial dispute between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the federal government deepened last week when the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja ordered the university lecturers to call off their over seven-month-old strike.

ASUU had on February 14, 2022 embarked on an initial four-week warning strike to press home a whole range of demands from the federal government. It subsequently extended the strike action indefinitely on August 29, following the breakdown of negotiations between the union and the government.

At the core of the dispute are academic autonomy, improved staff welfare and the non-payment of public universities’ revitalisation funds, which amount to about N1.1 trillion. But the federal government has said it did not have the money to pay such an amount, citing low oil prices witnessed under the current administration.

In a strategic move to resolve the long-drawn industrial dispute, the federal government through the Ministry of Labour and Employment, had approached the court to compel the striking lecturers to return to the classroom.

Specifically, the federal government urged the court to, “interpret in its entirety the provisions of Section 18 of the Trade Disputes Act, especially as it applies to the cessation of strike once a trade dispute is apprehended by the Minister of Labour and Employment and conciliation is ongoing”.

It also requested for, “an order of the court for ASUU members to resume work in their various universities while the issues in dispute are being addressed by the NICN in consonance with the provisions of Section 18 (I) (b) of the TDA Cap T8. LFN 2004”.

ASUU had in a counter-affidavit it filed before the court, opposed the suit on the premise that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, lacked the power to order the court in the referral to direct it to call off the strike action.

It’s  lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), argued that such referral amounted to a directive from the minister to the court. He maintained that neither a minister nor the president could wield such powers as to control a court of competent jurisdiction. More so, Falana argued that the federal government failed to follow the due process as stipulated in part 1 of TDA 2004.

According to him, the law, provided that such matter must first pass through the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) before landing at the NIC.

Falana argued that ASUU would not have embarked on strike if the government had kept to various agreements and Momoradum of Understanding (MoU), it signed with the union in the past.

But Justice Polycarp Hamman dismissed the objections and ordered the striking varsity lecturers to return to the classroom, in line with the provisions of the TDA, pending the final determination of the suit before the court.

Justice Hamman in his ruling, granted the federal government’s application for an interlocutory injunction to restrain ASUU from continuing with the strike. He held that the strike was a breach of the Section 18(1)(2) of the Trade Disputes Act, which prohibits their action.

The judge while ordering members of the union to resume work pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit, held that the strike is detrimental to public university students who cannot afford to attend private tertiary institutions.

However, according Falana, the ruling would be challenged at the Court of Appeal.

Responding to the ruling, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) condemned it in its entirety, describing it as a betrayal of equity.

NANS National Public Relations Officer, Giwa Temitope, said the court’s decision did not offer a permanent solution to the dispute, stressing that lecturers cannot be forced to resume their duties.

Even before the order by the court, a discerning ASUU National President, Emmanuel Osodeke, had hinted that lecturers cannot be compelled to return to classes.

Osodeke revealed this position during last week’s parley with Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, accompanied by ASUU executives. He correctly likened the scenario to a court order forcing a medical doctor to treat a patient.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Mallam Adamu Adamu-led Ministry of Education, Osodeke described the seven-month strike as symptomatic of the level of decay in the university system.

He argued that the ministry never called on ASUU for a meeting to explore avenues to end the strike. According to him, all his members got in return was a provocative no-work-no-pay policy. He held that ASUU remains blameless about the closure of public universities and warned that the universities which account for over 95 per cent intake of students face the risk of depreciating to the level of public primary schools within the next 10 years.

On his part,  Gbajabiamila urged the aggrieved lecturers to shift grounds in the interest of the country’s educational sector and promised that the House of Representatives would interface with President Muhammadu Buhari to find short-term and long-term solutions to challenges besetting the sector.

To-date, it’s hardly debatable that Nigeria’s development quandary at this juncture of human history is firmly linked to how cavalierly its leadership has been treating the education of its children – especially in the public schools. ASUU has fought endlessly to ensure that the university system draws the vital oxygen of funding, infrastructural and other critical inputs from its promoters to give real meaning to having varsities in the first place.

Consequently, over the decades strike by ASUU and other sister unions has continued to dog the nation’s tertiary educational system. ASUU’s existential struggle as it were appears not be the priority of the current administration.

With the latest dodgy phase of the face-off in the arena of the industrial court of arbitration, Nigerians wait with bated breath. And for the enervated students, it is still morning yet on creation day.

To show how insensitive those in charge of the affairs of the country are, the First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari had needlessly shared the graduation photos of her daughter-in-law across her social media pages last Tuesday. Zahra Bayero-Buhari, who got married to President Buhari’s son, Yusuf, in August 2021, graduated from a UK university.

Aisha’s critics berated her for being insensitive to the plights of Nigerian students who have been out of school for seven months due to the ongoing strike by ASUU.

One of those who reacted bitterly to the post was a former minister in President Buhari’s cabinet, Solomon Dalung, who wrote: “The acceptable interpretation to say the least is an insult to the psyche of Nigerians. You used to stand with common people in the first tenure but this time around you have not only abandoned them but graduated into academy of tyranny. What makes her better than any other Nigerian child? Given the opportunity in foreign universities some would have graduated with Distinction. This is not only insensitive but disappointing my dear wife of the president.”

On his part, the presidential candidate of Action Alliance, Omoyele Sowore, said Nigerian leaders are not bothered about the ASUU strike because they can afford to send their children abroad for studies.

For now, it is not certain when the dispute would be resolved for the students to go back to school. But while the dispute lingers, the students have threatened to make the country ungovernable. This is why the federal government needs to wear its thinking cap.