The new strike would be a protest against the government’s ‘No-work, No-pay’ policy, Osodeke told Vanguard in an interview on Wednesday.
Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, has declared that if the Nigerian government does not pay their withheld eight-month salaries, university lecturers will go on strike again.
The new strike would be a protest against the government’s ‘No-work, No-pay’ policy, Osodeke told Vanguard in an interview on Wednesday.
SaharaReporters had reported that the ASUU suspended its eight-month-old strike after a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja in October.
The lecturers’ union went on strike to demand improved welfare for workers and funding for universities, among other issues.
There were several meetings between the ASUU leadership and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige who represented the Nigerian Government but after what he described as “failed negotiations,” the government filed a suit against ASUU at the National Industrial Court.
In its ruling on September 21, the National Industrial Court granted the motion on notice filed by the Nigerian government and ordered ASUU to end the strike and return to the classroom immediately.
The trial judge, Justice Polycarp Hamman, while ruling on the interlocutory injunction, restrained ASUU from continuing with the strike pending the determination of the suit filed against the union by the Nigerian government.
But ASUU, not satisfied with the ruling of the National Industrial Court, appealed the judgment at the Court of Appeal, where it also filed a stay of execution of the ruling of the NIC.
However, the Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of the lower court and ordered the striking lecturers to “immediately” call off the strike and resume work with immediate effect.
But despite complying with the court order, the government paid the lecturers half of their salaries for October.
Reacting to this situation, ASUU President said, “Yes, the matter still continues before the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, NICN, in Abuja. The court has not given a final judgement on it.
“Remember that we were not the ones who dragged the government to court. It was the government that took us to court. The order that the court gave was that we should go back to our duty posts while the matter is being heard.
“As law-abiding people, we obeyed the order of the court. Unfortunately, the Federal Government that initiated the matter did not wait for the final decision of the court before starting the ‘no work, no pay’ issue. Even to a layman, when the court said ‘go back and maintain the status quo’, did it say that the government should be the judge on the matter?”
Osodeke also expressed satisfaction with the response of ASUU members to the series of demonstrations by chapters of the union over the half-salaries paid to them in October.
“We are going to hold our National Executive Council meeting to appraise the situation and look at reports from the branches.
“It was NEC that mandated the branches to embark on the protests. Whatever is going to be the next line of action, we are going to decide at the NEC meeting,” he added.