The Federal Government has dragged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to the National Industrial Court in a bid to stop its over six months old strike that has kept lecture halls of public universities shut and left students stranded at home.<\/p>\n
The government comes as the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and five university students have filed a lawsuit against President Muhammadu Buhari, asking the court to \u201cdeclare unlawful the refusal by the Federal Government to meet ASUU\u2019s demands, which has occasioned the prolonged strike action and violated the students\u2019 right to quality education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, in a leaked letter written to the Chief Registrar of the National Industrial Court, Abuja dated September 8, 2022, alleged the refusal of ASUU to call off its strike which began February 14, 2022, and thereby, asked the court to accelerate hearing on the matter in order to bring the dispute between the union and the government to an end.<\/p>\n
It reads in part, \u201cPlease find attached three original copies of a Referral Instrument regarding the trade dispute between the FG \/Federal Ministry of Education and ASUU for adjudication by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Referral Instrument is raised in fine with powers vested on the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment by trade dispute resolution mechanisms and the provision of Section 17 of the Trade Dispute Act. CAP. T8 Laws of the Fderation of Nigeria (LFN), 2004.
\n\u201cIn view of the fact that ASUU members have been on strike since February 14, 2222 and have refused to cull off the action despite apprehension of same, it would be appreciated if this dispute is given an accelerated hearing in order to bring the dispute to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joined in the suit by SERAP as Defendants are the Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Chris Ngige, and Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN.<\/p>\n
The suit followed the apparent lack of commitment by the Federal Government to implement the agreements with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and to end the over seven-month-old industrial action by the union, and the threat by the government to implement its \u201cno work, no pay\u201d policy.<\/p>\n
In the suit number NICN\/ABJ\/269\/2022 filed last week at the National Industrial Court, Abuja, SERAP and the students are seeking: \u201can order directing President Buhari and Mr Ngige to immediately implement all the agreements with ASUU in order to end the strike action and violation of the students\u2019 right to quality education.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to SERAP and the students:\u00a0\u201cDisruption of classes undermines both the quality and duration of students\u2019 education. This situation has aggravated existing disparities in access to university education in the country, further marginalizing economically disadvantaged parents and students.\u201d<\/p>\n
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP and the students by their lawyer Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, read in part: \u201cThe Federal Government has failed to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the right to quality education, and the right to freedom of association through the principle of collective bargaining.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough Nigeria has ratified several human rights treaties, which guarantee the right to quality education of Nigerian students, the Federal Government has over the years refused to meet the demands by ASUU, and to address the poor environment in the country\u2019s universities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe students who are co-claimants in the suit are Dongo Daniel Davou; Oyebode Joshua Babafemi;\u00a0Ejie Kemkanma; Peter Itohowo Aniefiok; and Imam Naziru. They are students of Plateau State University, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Port Harcourt, University of Uyo, and University of Ibadan, respectively.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe failure to implement the agreements with ASUU is also a fundamental breach of the right to education without discrimination or exclusion, as strike actions continue to penalize economically disadvantaged parents who have no means or capacity to send their children to private schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEqual access of Nigerian children and young people to quality and uninterrupted education including at the university level would contribute to producing citizens who are fundamentally equal and people who actively participate in society.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt would enable people to enjoy the rights as well as fulfil obligations that are associated with citizenship.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSERAP had earlier advised President Buhari to recover\u00a0the N105.7 billion stolen public funds and utilize\u00a0same in addition to specified percentages of the N3.6 billion feeding and travels allowances for the President and the N134 billion allocated to the National Assembly in the 2022 Budget to meet the legitimate demands by\u00a0ASUU.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cApart from being a right in itself, the right to education is also an enabling right.\u00a0Education is a public good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEducation creates the \u2018voice\u2019 through which rights can be claimed and protected, and without education people lack the capacity to achieve valuable functioning as part of the living.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNigeria\u2019s public tertiary institutions have continued to experience a steady decline. The quality of public education offered is low and standards have continued to drop. The learning environment does not promote effective learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe right to bargain freely with employers with respect to conditions of work constitutes an essential element in freedom of association, and trade unions including ASUU should have the right to seek to improve the living and working conditions of those whom they represent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Federal Government has continued to ignore the plights of teeming undergraduates, who have been denied access to quality education due to the lingering strike action occasioned by the continued reluctance of the Defendants and their agents to implement the agreements with ASUU.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe breach of the agreements by the Federal Government clearly provides a reasonable basis for ASUU members to exercise their right to strike as a last resort. It is unlawful to punish the members simply for peacefully exercising their right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNigerian students in public universities have suffered many years of disruption as a result of the failure of governments to address the root causes of strike action by ASUU and to faithfully implement the agreements reached with the union, leading to devastating consequences on the right to equal and quality higher education.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Federal Government has breached the explicit right to equal access to higher education of Nigerian children and young people, as provided for by article 13(2)(c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cProviding Nigerian children and young people equal access to education should be the core public service functions of the Federal Government.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ ALSO\u00a0\u00a0SERAP writes Lawan, Gbajabiamila over \u2018fresh missing N4.1bn NASS funds\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cOwing to\u00a0poor\u00a0funding, poor remuneration system, unconducive learning and training environments in public tertiary institutions in Nigeria,\u00a0 ASUU\u00a0after a protracted strike action\u00a0concluded\u00a0the\u00a0FGN-ASUU 2009 Agreement \u00a0in\u00a0 October 2009.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to reports and available evidence, the FGN-ASUU Initialled 2009 Agreement sought among others, the resolution of the following underlying issues: proper funding of public tertiary institutions\u00a0to\u00a0the tune of N1.3\u00a0trillion to be implemented across a period of 4 years between 2009 and 2013.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was agreed that\u00a0the N1.3\u00a0trillion funding of Government-owned tertiary institutions would span between years 2014 and 2018. It was also\u00a0agreed\u00a0that the sum of\u00a0N200\u00a0billion Naira would be released to public tertiary institutions in 2013 while a tranche of\u00a0N220\u00a0billion Naira was to be paid yearly between 2014 and 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, according to reports, only the sum of\u00a0N200\u00a0billion Naira was released in 2014 and no other sum, apart from the sum of\u00a0N20\u00a0billion Naira released in 2019 was paid to the institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
SERAP and the students are also seeking the following reliefs:<\/p>\n
\u2022 A DECLARATION\u00a0that the refusal of the Defendants to implement the terms of the FGN-ASUU Renegotiated 2009 Agreements and the 2020 Memorandum of Action which has occasioned the prolonged strike action is unlawful, inconsistent and incompatible with Nigeria\u2019s human rights obligations and violates the students\u2019 right to quality education.<\/p>\n
\u2022 A DECLARATION\u00a0that the acts of the Defendants and their agents in withholding the remunerations of the members of ASUU\u00a0for the period of the strike while at the same time paying members of sister staff unions is discriminatory and in violation of\u00a0ASUU members\u2019\u00a0right to freedom of association, right to strike and collective bargaining.<\/p>\n
\u2022 AN ORDER\u00a0directing the Defendants and their agents to implement forthwith the terms of the Renegotiated 2009 Agreement and the 2020 Memorandum of Action in order to put an end to the strike action and desist from further violation of the rights of the Nigerian students to quality education.<\/p>\n
\u2022 AN ORDER\u00a0mandating the Defendants and their agents to immediately release and pay all the withheld and outstanding remunerations, salary, allowances and other emoluments both for the period and outside the period of the current strike action to all members of ASUU.<\/p>\n
\u2022 AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION\u00a0restraining the Defendants and their agents from unlawfully reneging, rescinding and\/or refusing to implement the Renegotiated FGN-ASUU 2009 Agreement and the 2020 Memorandum.<\/p>\n
\u2022 SUCH FURTHER\u00a0orders the Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstances of this suit.<\/p>\n
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.<\/p>\n
\u25aa\ufe0e Additional reports by\u00a0serap-nigeria.org<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Federal Government has dragged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to the National Industrial Court in a bid to stop its over six months old strike that has kept lecture halls of public universities shut and left students stranded at home. The government comes as the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":39521,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5783],"tags":[831,676,351],"class_list":["post-59718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-education","tag-asuu","tag-fg","tag-serap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}