NANS appeals to ASUU to obey court judgement and call off strike

From David Kuvie Bauchi

The National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) has called on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)  to obey the Court order and call off its seven months old strike.

The  Coordinator of the Zonal E Secretariat of NANS, Alhassan Adam, made the appeal to ASUU during a press briefing at the NUJ Secretariat, Bauchi,on Friday.

The students union body vowed to protect the interest of Nigerian Students saying it is in the best interest of lecturers to call off the strike at the moment.

Adam, who was in company with Dani Hassan and Usman Abubakar Mansur, National Officer and President of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi respectively, described the court judgment as a WIn-Win situation for all stakeholders.

The National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja had in its judgement on Wednesday between the Federal Government and ASUU, ordered ASUU to call off the strike. 

ASUU is dissatisfied with the court judgement and  has disclosed its intention to appeal against it.

Regarding the court judgement,NANS advised ASUU to respect the court decision and go back to classes while trying to resolve it legally saying nobody is above the law.

“Base on that the leadership NANS deem it very necessary to call on the ASUU to please respect the judgement of the court with good faith, so that our students can return back to classes after a seven months of deadbeat staying at home,” he stated

“We learned that the ASUU will appeal the case, Yes, it’s their right to appeal but please they should also respect the judgement as we earlier said to return to work while the case continues in the court of Appeal”

The students also called on the Federal Government to also pay the striking lecturers their seven months outstanding salaries to enable them settle their debts and other expenses.

Adams dismissed the earlier report credited to NANS that it had rejected the court judgement.

“That report was not from the National Body. It was an unauthorized view from Lagos and it did not reflect NANS position. The NANS President called for a meeting in Abuja and our position would soon be clarified in the press today of tomorrow,” he said.