*Asks leaders to obey court, resume work as proof of patriotism
*As he appeals to FG to pay salaries withheld on ‘no work, no pay’ policy
By KEMI KASUMU
A human resources practitioner and former Director in the Kwara State Public Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, has appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) not to appeal Wednesday’s judgment of National Industrial Court.
Positing that the court order was based on the ‘rule of law’, the retired senior public officer advised that the union, rather than going to appeal, should simply obey the court order in line with democratic process and that the ASUU leaders should do so to show that they are patriotic individuals.
Reacting to the judgment in Abuja on Thursday, Alhaji Ibrahim who is a Fellow of Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (FCIPM), also called on the Federal Government not to proceed further on the suit filed at the NIC.
This is part of what he believes to be his proffered way out of the FG/ASUU crisis, adding that the Federal Government should withdraw the case and order the immediate payment of outstanding salaries of universities’ lecturers for them to resume academic activities.
The DEFENDER reports that although outstanding salaries were not the issue between ASUU and government as salaries were not owned as at the time they began to stay away from work, which led to the government evoking the labour law that says ‘no work, no pay’.
However, the human resources manager said that alternative dispute resolution mechanism could be used to resolve the lingering crisis instead of the use of court.
Ibrahim stated that the ASUU strike, which “has turned national embarrassment”, could have been avoided if both parties had allowed patriotism to play dominant roles in the disagreement.
Alhaji Ibrahim drew the attention of leaders and citizens to the ongoing political process featuring preparations for the forthcoming general elections, the security situation in the country as well as seven-month-old ASUU strike.
For these reasons and more, he expressed his satisfaction with the promise made by President Muhammadu Buhari that he would do more consultations in getting the ASUU crisis out of the way, pointing out that “such a firm assurance give a ray of hope that the crisis would soon be put behind us in few days.”
He appealed to the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) as stakeholders to avoid complicating already enough issue through its inflammable statements and organising protests as the matter was about being brought under control.
Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, who is also the National Coordinator of Muslim Media Watch Group of Nigeria, concluded by appealing to ASUU to call off the strike and resume classes, while being optimistic that the government will pay their outstanding salaries from March to September this year.
On the issues raised by ASUU necessitating the strike action, he called for resumption of negotiations immediately the strike is called off, adding that Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanism approach is better than litigation, as litigation has its own way of slowing down actions.
