As the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike continues to linger, the Law Student Association of Nigeria has filed a suit against ASUU, challenging what it called an incessant strike by the Union, which has paralyzed the country’s education system.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1551/2012 and filed on Friday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the students sought an order compelling ASUU to return to work.
The President of the Association, Blessing Agbomhere, filed the suit on behalf of the students, also prayed the court for an order of perpetual injunction restraining ASUU from further industrial action.
The Association asked the court to compel ASUU to pay N10 billion as compensation to Nigerian students for infringing on their rights to education, as guaranteed by Section 18 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 17 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
In addition, the association is seeking the court to court to order ASUU to pay damages to all Nigerian students for the psychological and emotional torture they have suffered, and also valuable time lost as a result of the continuous strike.
Also, listed as defendants in the suit are, ASUU; ASUU President Professor Biodun Ogunyemi; and the Minister of Education.
Others are the Minister of Labour and Employment, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The court is yet to fix a date for the hearing of the suit.
Recall that ASUU had embarked on strike since March 2020, and negotiations with the Federal Government have yielded no dividend.
