ASUU: Ekiti Varsity orders students to resume after court order; schedules second-semester exams
A few hours after the Court directed the ASUU to suspension of its seven months old strike, the Management of Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti directed the students to resume on Thursday, September 22, 2022.
Newsflash Nigeria had earlier reported the National Industrial Court (NIC) ordered the ASUU to suspend the industrial action pending the determination of the matter referred to it by the Nigerian government through its Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige.
The judge, Polycarp Hamman, gave the order on Wednesday, in a ruling on the federal government’s application for an interlocutory injunction against the ongoing ASUU strike.
The federal government’s counsel, James Igwe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), had filed the application seeking the court’s order restraining ASUU from continuing with the strike pending the determination of the suit initiated through a referral by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige.
Mr Hamman, in granting the order on Wednesday, dismissed ASUU’s objection to the application.
The union’s lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, had urged the court to dismiss the federal government’s application, and instead, grant an accelerated hearing of the main suit.
Mr Hamman agreed with the government that irreparable damage was being done to the lives of students rendered idle by the ongoing strike.
He said not granting the injunction would only cause additional damage to the ambitions of young Nigerians.
He cited examples of the National Youth Service Corps and employment in Nigeria’s armed forces where age is a requirement for participation and employment.
He also said the Trade Dispute Act prohibits parties from engaging in an industrial action when disputes have been referred to the industrial court, the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) or when a conciliator has been appointed.
Mr Falana, ASUU’s lawyer, had argued that the affidavit filed by Ikechukwu Wamba, a legal officer at the Ministry of Labour and Employment in support of the application should not be admitted as the deponent was neither a member of the university community nor part of any meetings held with the union.
But judge Hamman disagreed, saying Mr Wamba as a legal officer and a member of management at the labour ministry had access to the official documents of the negotiations as well as offering legal advice to the minister.
The judge also disagreed with Mr Falana’s submission that the government has not made necessary moves to curtail the strike since it commenced in February.
He said pieces of evidence from meetings with the government which began days after the strike until 1 September proved negotiations had been ongoing.
Meanwhile, the Management of Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti has directed the resumption of full academic activities with effect from tomorrow, Thursday, 22nd September, 2022.
Accordingly, round-off lectures for the second semester of the 2020/2021 academic session have been scheduled to hold between Thursday, 22nd September and Friday, 21st October 2022.
The Institution In a press statement issued by the Head of the Directorate of Information & Corporate Affairs, Bode Olofinmuagun, stressed that the second-semester examination for the 2020/2021 academic session would hold between Monday, 24th October and Saturday, 5th November 2022.
He further said the lectures for 100-level students admitted for the 2021/2022 academic session will commence on Monday, 3rd October 2022.
The statement asked students to note those duly registered in the university will have access to all the academic activities.
The Management of the university appealed to all the academic and non-teaching staff of the institution to give their maximum support so that both the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 academic sessions would be completed without further delay.
”The Management wishes all our students a safe trip back to Ado-Ekiti,” the statement said.
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