ASUU: NANS reacts to judgement, advises Justice Hamman

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has mocked the federal government and the judgement it obtained from the Industrial Court judgement which ordered Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) to resume work.

Justice Polycarp Hamman on Wednesday held that the strike was a breach of the Section 18(1)(2) of the Trade Disputes Act, which prohibits their action.

But the student union said the news of the judgement was disturbing.

According to its PRO, Giwa Yisa Temitope, the ruling betrayed equity.

“Ordinarily, the Federal Government is not meant to have dragged ASUU to court. But the fact that they had to drag ASUU to court is a signal that this government cannot handle crisis. And, we want to state categorically that the court cannot force members of ASUU back to lecture theatres,” a statement NANS issued said in part.

“And, as it stands today, with that court judgment, we maintain that the court has not resolved the problem and we reject the judgment in strong terms. The court could have said that the Federal Government should go and pay rather than say that lecturers who are on strike should go back to classrooms.

“We were expecting the court to have understood that lecturers are on contract of personal service hence, they cannot be compelled to render a service they don’t want to render.

“The only remedy to this strike action is for the Federal Government to accede to the demands of ASUU which the government willingly entered into with them and properly fund education.”