The striking lecturers on Wednesday reacted to the National Industrial Court which ordered them back to class at the instance of lawsuit instituted by the Federal government.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said, they would appeal the judgement, hence, to the strike will not be suspended in accordance with the Court order.
ASUU has been on industrial strike for the past seven months over unmet demand by the Federal government. The crisis was also deepened by the Federal government’s no-work-pay policy.
The Federal government instituted a lawsuit against ASUU to through the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige who also at various times tried to resolve the issues without success.
But in a ruling on Wednesday, the National Industrial Court judge, Justice Polycarp Hamman submitted that the Federal Government’s application for an interlocutory injunction against the ongoing ASUU strike was upheld.
The federal government’s counsel, James Igwe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), had filed the application seeking the court’s order restraining ASUU from continuing with the strike pending the determination of the suit initiated through a referral by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige.
Mr Hamman, in granting the order on ASUU’s objection to the application.
The union’s lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, had urged the court to dismiss the federal government’s application, and instead, grant an accelerated hearing of the main suit.
