The president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Emmanuel Osodeke, said that the union called 0f the strike because of the court order.
He said lecturers decided to resume teaching because of a court order asking them to do so.
Osedeko said this while speaking in an interview on Channel Television on Sunday.
He also said the union hopes the government will do the needful now that the strike has been suspended.
He added that although there were interventions by Femi Gbajabiamila, the house of representatives speaker, “the major reason we are resuming is that we are obeying the court order”.
“The issues have not been fully resolved and no agreement has been signed. So, we are resuming because we are a law-abiding body and we don’t want to break the law. We are also hoping that the speaker’s intervention, as promised by him, will resolve these problems in a very short time,” he added.
When asked if this means the lecturers are not happy to be resuming, Osodeke said: “Definitely”.
“In trade dispute, especially one involving university academics, the best option is the negotiation and then you end it within a concise time,” he said.
“But the minister of labor believes that the best way is to force them to class. It’s so sad, but because of the interest of the Nigerian students, their parents, and the speaker, our members will teach.
“Any country that plays with education creates room for insecurity.
“We want the next administration to follow the trend of neighboring countries and allocate not less than 16 percent of the budget to education. When this is done, these problems will be sorted out. Our children will go to school effortlessly.”
ASUU had been on strike since February 14 to press home the demand for improved funding for universities, and a review of salaries for lecturers, among other issues.
After several meetings to resolve the strike ended inconclusively, the federal government proceeded to the national industrial court to challenge the action.
The industrial court, in a ruling delivered on September 21, granted the federal government’s application for an interlocutory injunction to restrain ASUU from continuing with the strike pending the determination of the substantive suit.
Not satisfied with the ruling, ASUU approached the court of appeal seeking leave to challenge the lower court’s decision.
The court of appeal subsequently asked the parties to explore the option of an out-of-court settlement.
However, both parties agreed to proceed with the hearing after failing to reach a settlement.
Delivering a ruling at the resumed court session on October 7, the appeal court ordered the union to call off its strike.
The appeal court said ASUU should obey the order of the industrial court before seeking to appeal the judgment.
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