ASUU Strike: Court Adjourns FG’s Lawsuit Against ASUU till September 16

The suit brought by the Federal Government against the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was postponed by Justice P.I. Hamman of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) on Monday until September 16, 2022.

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The Federal Government is suing to contest the ASUU’s prolonged strike.

The Federal Government specifically requests that the court issue an injunction allowing ASUU members to return to work at their various universities while the points in dispute are being resolved by the NICN in accordance with Section 18 (I) (b) of the TDA Cap T8. LFN 2004.

When the case came up for mention on Monday, the So­cio-Economic Rights and Ac­countability Project (SERAP) brought an application seeking to be joined in the legal action as an interested party.

Counsel for SERAP, Ebun- Olu Adegnoruwa, told Justice Hamman that his client had filed a similar suit, praying the court to compel the Federal Govern­ment to honour its 2009 agree­ment with members of ASUU.

“We filed a similar suit on September 8, asking the court to compel the Federal Government to honour an agreement it will­ingly entered into with ASUU,” Adegboruwa submitted.

SERAP’s joinder application, Adegboruwa said, was to fore­stall duplicity of judicial pro­nouncements concerning the industrial dispute.

Reacting, the Federal Gov­ernment’s lawyer, Tijjani Gazali (SAN), opposed SERAP’s appli­cation to consolidate the suits.

He contended that SERAP’s application was “premature” as the case was slated for mention on Monday.

On his part, Femi Falana (SAN), who represented ASUU, said he was aware of efforts by the lawyers to file court papers in the suit on Monday.

In a short ruling on the SERAP’s joinder application, Justice Hamman agreed with the Federal Government that the suit was not ripe for consol­idation.