The National Industrial Court had yesterday ordered the striking lecturers under the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to resume work immediately, meanwhile the union’s president, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, has said they await advice from their lawyers to know the next line of action.
In an exclusive chat with Daily Sun, Osodeke said this has become imperative since the matter has taken a legal turn and as such, all actions will be as prescribed by ASUU lawyers.
“We are waiting for advice from our lawyers. When they advice us, then we will take action.” he said.
On the union’s meeting with the leadership of the House of Representatives, the ASUU President said the union is awaiting further action for the lower legislative chambers and will honour any to which meeting they are invited.
According to him “We are also waiting for them to call us back. When they call us, we will go and continue.”
The industrial court, led by Justice Polycarp Hamman, on Wednesday, restrained ASUU from continuing with the industrial action pending the determination of the suit filed against it by the federal government.
Justice Polycap, who is a vacation judge, also ordered that the case filed be returned to the president of the industrial court for reassignment to another judge.
The decree was issued shortly after the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) threatened to prevent political campaigns from taking place nationwide until public university students returned to their classes.
The Chairman, NANS National Taskforce, Ojo Olumide, announced this at a press conference in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, on Wednesday, some days to September 28, the official date for candidates to kick-off campaign as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
“Our blocking of access to public roads and ports is just a warning. If the government fails to conclude all the negotiation and agreement with ASUU within the frame of two weeks, they will witness more protests and rallies all over the country, they will also witness the annoyance, anger and frustration of Nigerian students who have been at home for the past seven months,” he said.
“As we promise them that we will not allow any political campaign to hold across the country until we are back to class. This government has pushed so many Nigerian students into depression. We say enough is enough; we can no longer bear the brunt from this avoidable crisis in our nation public ivory towers again.”
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike since February 14 as talks between the federal government and lecturers of public universities have not yielded a comprise upon which students can return to class.