The Federal Government has urged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to cease taking laws into its hands by directing its members to continue with the eight-month-old strike in defiance of the interlocutory injunction by the National Industrial Court (NICN) which restrained the union from further action.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, who said this via a statement issued on Sunday by the ministry’s spokesperson, Olajide Oshundun, stated that a new directive by ASUU, directing its members to continue with action “is an unwarranted lawlessness”, noting that “the Federal Government strongly frowns at this”.
Ngige accused the ASUU leadership of misinforming and misleading its members and warned of consequences of contempt of court order.
The minister said: “The union is dishonest and misleading its members and the general public, that it has filed an appeal as well as a stay of execution of the order of National Industrial Court on September 21, 2022, though it has none of this.
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“Rather, ASUU only filed an application for permission to appeal the order. Also attached to the application, a proposed notice of appeal which it intends to file if the leave to appeal is granted. The application for a stay of execution as of this moment, has not even been listed for hearing. Where then is ASUU coming from?
“It is therefore contemptuous, dishonest, and misleading for the union to tell its members that it has not only appealed the interlocutory injunction by the National Industrial Court, directing it to call off strike and return to work, but that it also has a stay of execution.”
Ngige further called on the union to respect the court order and return to work, noting that negotiations are concluded on the remaining issues in contention.
The minister, however, denied the reports that he walked out of the meeting between the House of Representatives and ASUU on Thursday, saying he left the meeting to attend to other pressing matters with the permission of the Speaker of the House of Reps, Femi Gbajabiamila, after making his presentation.
He stated that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, was earlier granted such permission by Gbajabiamila.
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