The National Association of Nigerian Students, NAN, has reacted to the court judgement mandating the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to call of its 7-month strike.
According to NANS, the students will not resume if the Federal Government fails to accede to the demands of ASUU.
Recall that ASUU has been on strike since February 14 to press home the demands for improved funding for universities, a review of salaries for lecturers, among other issues.
ALSO READ: BREAKING: Barely 24 hours after meeting Reps, Court orders ASUU to call off 7-month strike
Following this, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria on Wednesday ordered ASUU to call off its ongoing nationwide strike.
But reacting to the ruling in a statement, NANS spokesperson, Giwa Temitope, said the judgement betrays equity.
“Our attention has been drawn to a news of a court judgment mandating the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call of its 7 month strike. As an association, we feel disturbed to read the news of the judgment because we believe that it betrays equity.
“Ordinarily, the Federal Government is not meant to have dragged ASUU to court. But, the fact that they had to drag ASUU to court is a signal that this government cannot handle crisis. And, we want to state categorically that the court cannot force members of ASUU back to lecture theatres.
“And, as it stands today, with that court judgment, we maintain that the court has not resolved the problem and we reject the judgment in strong terms.
“The court could have said that the Federal Government should go and pay rather than say that lecturers who are on strike should go back to classrooms.
“We were expecting the court to have understood that lecturers are on contract of personal service hence, they cannot be compelled to render a service they don’t want to render.
“The only remedy to this strike action is for the Federal Government to accede to the demands of ASUU which the government willingly entered into with them and properly fund education,” the statement read.