October 10, (THEWILL) – Senior Advocate of Nigerian (SAN), Femi Falana, has expressed optimism that the lingering strike action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), will be called off in days and not weeks.
Falana stated this at the book launch, entitled “Breaking Coconut With Your Head”, by Lanre Arogundade, on Monday, in Lagos
The Senior Advocate, who is a lead counsel to ASUU, in its legal tussle with the Federal Government, said it is likely that the strike will be concluded outside the courtroom.
THEWILL recalls that the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, had on Friday, ordered ASUU to suspend its ongoing strike.
The appellate court gave the order in a ruling on an application by the ASUU seeking permission for it to appeal against the order of the National Industrial Court which asked the striking lecturers to resume duty.
The National Industrial Court, on September 21, granted interlocutory order in favour of the federal government, ordering the university lecturers to resume work pending the resolution of their dispute with the government.
Lecturers of the Federal Government owned universities had embarked on strike since February 14, 2022, to demand the release of revitalisation funds for universities; deployment of the University Transparency Accountability System (UTAS) for the payment of salaries and allowances of university lecturers; release of earned allowances; the release of the white paper report of the visitation panels to universities and other issues involving the ASUU-FGN 2009 agreement.
The Federal Government had set up a negotiation team to look into the Union’s demand.
However, amid several failed negotiations, the Government approached the court to order ASUU to suspend its strike, while it engaged the union to address the dispute.
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