The Workers and Youths Solidarity Network (WYSN) has condemned the ruling of Justice Hamman, a vacation judge, who ordered the resumption of ASUU even when the purported case hasn’t passed through the Industrial Arbitration Panel, before landing at the National Industrial Court (NIC). This is made known in statement signed by the Secretary, Workers and Youths Solidarity Network (WYSN) Damilola Owot.
“We also hold the court ruling lacks every moral ground to compel the striking union to resume work, when there is no concrete plan to resolve all of the contradictions that led to the strike. As a way forward, ASUU needs to out-rightly reject and defy the court ruling and take the struggle beyond the mere sit-at-home strike and engage in nationwide protests and stoppages. ” The (WYSN) also called on the National Labour Congress to declare a 3-day mass strike, not only in solidarity with the striking union, but also to demand the scrapping of the section 47 of the NIC that gives power to the court to stop unions from embarking on their civil-legal way of negotiating and demanding for their rights.
It could be recalled that the strike action commenced on the 14th of February, 2022, where the members of ASUU were demanding for the adoption of UTAS, a raise in poverty-stricken wages and improved funding to education. “Instead of acceding to the demands and making provisions for improved funding, the Buhari/APC-led federal government imposed the extant no-work-no-pay rule to compel the union back to work. As if the seizing of 8-months salaries of the union is not enough, the same FG dragged ASUU to court just to enforce an undemocratic ruling on the mass of the people. If this despotic act is not curtailed, the regime will grow wings and continue to trample on the rights of the common people.”
“Millions of Nigerian youths have been locked out of school for more than 215 days and the educational system of the country has been left in tatters. The children of the poor and working people who cannot afford private universities have been denied access to education while the children of the ruling elites are busy graduating from overseas universities. Even few days ago, the daughter of the president graduated from a United Kingdom University, while the educational system of the country is left to collapse.”
The statement reels out that, there is need for the government needs to attend to all of the demands of ASUU and completely revamp the educational sector. “The fact that the children of the ruling elites attend universities outside the country testifies to the poor state of our education and the need to urgently reshape it.”
