“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 the contract of personal service hence, they cannot be compelled to render a service they don’t want to render.” -NANS

______________________________________

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), has rejected a ruling of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, asking the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to call of its eight months strike.

In a statement obtained by Tribune Online signed by NANS national Public Relations Officer, Giwa Yisa Temitope, said the students’ body was disturbed by the order, saying such “betrays equity”.

The PRO said that the federal government ought not to have taken ASUU to court, submitting that the order by the court, had not in anyway, resolved issues raised by ASUU.

He urged the federal government to accede to the demands of ASUU, by paying their lecturers’ salaries and improving facilities in public universities.

The statement reads, “Our attention has been drawn to news of a court judgment mandating the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its 7-month strike. As an association, we feel disturbed to read the news of the judgment because we believe that it betrays 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 a crisis. And, we want to state categorically that the court cannot force members of ASUU back to lecture theatres.

“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 the 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.”

•Text, except headline, courtesy of TRIBUNE newspaper