By Abubakar Yunusa, Abuja
There is a feeling of sweet relief for universities student across the country following last week’s Court of Appeal verdict, which ordered the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to immediately end its eight month-old strike.
The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-man panel of Justices, directed ASUU to comply with the interlocutory order the National Industrial Court (NIC) made on September 21, which ordered aggrieved varsity lecturers to return to the classroom, pending the determination of the legal action the Federal Government instituted against them.
The panel, which was led by Justice Hamma Barka, said it would not entertain any appeal from ASUU until it obeyed the NIC order. It, however, recognised the right of the union to appeal against the ruling of the NIC. Therefore, it granted ASUU the leave to proceed with the proposed 14 grounds of appeal it earlier filed to set aside the interlocutory injunction of the NIC that directed the striking lecturers to return to the classroom. Meanwhile, ASUU has said it is consulting on the ruling of the Court of Appeal.
In an exclusive chat with The Explainer, Abubakar Musa, a Student of Bayero University Kano said it would be unfortunate for ASUU to ignore the Appeal Court’s order for them to call off the strike last month.
“They appealed, and still, the same order was given by the Appeal Court for them to call off the strike immediately. Meanwhile, we are still waiting for the official statement from the striking lecturers if they will comply with the court’s order or not.
If they decide not to comply with orders from the court, then it’s obvious the Union is trying to prove that it’s above the law which in the end may lead to its proscription.
“Currently am a level 300 student and I have been on that level for the past two years owing to this frequent strikes.
“Just like any other public university student, the strike has affected me in many ways. The strike has affected my academic years. I should be rounding up my programme this year but here I am still in level 3 not knowing when to graduate anymore, because I don’t know when this strike will end.
“The strike is affecting my academic performance. I am not saying learning should be done in school alone, but one can’t pay full attention to studying at home as there are many distractions at home compared to being in school.”
The student noted that the strike has denied students of having access to learning facilities such as the laboratories, the use of the school library. He said the strike has also led some of the idle minds into social vices like crime, prostitution, cultism, and drug abuse, which in the end poses dangers to society,” he said.
A Level 3 Student of Usman Danfodio University, Zakaria Monsur told The Explainer that as a victim of the anomaly, I am understandably happy about the judgment if it is potent enough to get me back to class.
His words: “It is been eight months since the strike and both FG and ASUU have refused to reach an agreement because both parties have egos too big for them to swallow not minding the injury it is causing to students. I do feel for ASUU, no doubt about that, but if the court can make ASUU go back to class while negotiation continues then that’s the best stop-gap solution for now.
“I’m currently in the 300 level and all the words in the dictionary cannot appropriately describe the effect of the strike on my academics. But to give a clue at least, since 2018 when I got admission to study medicine I have experienced three strikes totaling more than 20 months. That’s close to two years lost to strike, I should be at the beginning of my fifth year by now. It is extremely depressing.
“FG taking ASUU to court might not be the best decision but if doing so has a little chance of putting a permanent stop to this madness then it’s fine. Let the right party win the case.
“My advice for the government and ASUU is that they should sheath their swords, swallow their feelings of pride and come to a middle ground just to put students who both parties have claimed to care about out of their misery for good,” he said.
Another 300-level BUK student known as Abubakar Ummi urged ASUU to comply with the court order to resume. She said, if ASUU fails to comply with the court order, it would mean that it is a lawless union.
