The Academic Staff Union of Universities’ appeal against the National Industrial Court’s ruling will be heard by the Court of Appeal in Abuja on Tuesday (today).
This comes as negotiations and discussions between the House of Representatives and the union, led by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, continue. Gbajabiamila’s delegation will meet with President Muhammadu Buhari today (ret.).
On September 23, 2022, ASUU filed 14 reasons for appeal against Justice Hamman Polycarp’s judgment of the Nigerian National Industrial Court, which ordered that the striking professors return to work awaiting the result of a petition brought by the Federal Government challenging the legitimacy of their strike.
The temporary injunction ordering ASUU members to return to work was issued in response to an application filed by the Federal Government through its counsel, Mr James Igwe.
Justice Polycarp said that the decision was in the national interest as well as for the welfare of undergraduates who had been in the country since February 14. He claimed that the strike was unfair to public university students who could not afford to attend private postsecondary schools.
ASUU, on the other hand, argued in its appeal that Justice Polycarp “erred in law and caused a miscarriage of justice when he decided to hear and decide the respondents’ motion for an interlocutory injunction when he knew or ought to have known that the substantive suit was not initiated by due process of law.”
ASUU further told the appeal court that it had “uncontroverted and indisputable proof” that the Federal Government delayed almost seven months before seeking the NIC for an interlocutory injunction.
The union maintained that, under sections 17 and 18 of the TDA, the NIC could only hear appeals from the Industrial Arbitration Panel, IAP, on problems originating from trade disputes.
ASUU said it was “very unsatisfied” with the trial court’s ruling, which it said should be “not only stopped from execution, but also thrown aside in its entirety.”