"The federal government took us to court, and we got a judgment in
December 2016, that is about three years now. In a democratic setting,
it is unthinkable that this will be happening. That a democratically
elected government will not implement the pronouncement of the court
of competent jurisdiction."
The Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) has slammed the Nigerian government over its refusal to obey a court order.
SSANU and its sister organisation, Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), have been on a five-day warning strike which started on Monday.
The unions are demanding the implementation of the renegotiated 2009 agreements.
Speaking with SaharaReporters in an interview, Wale Akinremi, the Chairman of SSANU in the University of Ibadan, said the federal government had taken the union to court on the agreement and the court granted judgment in favour of the union.
He added that the government had, however, refused to act as directed by the court.
"The federal government took us to court, and we got a judgment in December 2016, that is about three years now. In a democratic setting, it is unthinkable that this will be happening. That a democratically elected government will not implement the pronouncement of the court of competent jurisdiction.
"The staff school teachers that were erroneously sacked, we did not
take the federal government to court, they took us to court and we got
a judgment. If they had believed in court and what they argued and
have confidence in their interpretation of the agreement but
unfortunately for them, we got a judgment in our favour.
"Those teachers are alive and living in penury till date. Why will
they do that and we are talking about primary school teachers. if we
are not building our foundation today, what will happen to the
structure we are building on it?
"So, we are not fighting about give us money, we are fighting for the
structure of this nation. Not only that, but we also have in our
agreement that we should meet every year and for about three or four
times now, they have refused to meet with us.
"We have been writing to them, we have been staging protests, we have
been doing all sort of things to make sure they listen to us and they
have been recalcitrant about it, and that is how we got to this
stage."
He restated that after the warning strike, the unions would not
hesitate to go on an indefinite strike if the government refused to
listen to their complaints.
He added, "After the five-day warning strike if they want us to go
full-blown, we shall be ready for them. It is unfortunate that we have
to get to this state. If they call for more, we will give them."