The National Industrial Court of Nigeria has reserved judgement on the substantive application filed by the Federal Government, which challenges the Academic Staff Union of Universities’ eight-month strike, till May 30.
Hon. Justice Benedict Kanyip, the presiding judge, declared the date for judgement on Thursday, after the parties in the case adopted their written addresses in the referral NICN/ABJ/270/2022, as previously directed by the court.
The Ministry of Labour noted in a statement that at the latest hearing on Tuesday, May 2, 2023, Justice Kanyip, the President of NICN, ordered the defendants seven days to file a reply on point of law to the Federal Government, the claimants’ substantive case.
The orders sought by the Federal Government include that the eight-month ASUU strike did not follow the law, which case, made it an illegal strike.
The government is also asking the court to declare that ASUU, having embarked on a strike at that time, were not entitled to any payment as provided by the law in Section 43 of the Trade Dispute Act, TDA, 2004 “No Work, No Pay” policy and ILO principles on the right to strike.
