SERAP to court, declare Buhari’s refusal to meet ASUU’s demands illegal
*President Muhammadu Buhari
(Nigeria) Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability
Project, SERAP, and five university students have filed a lawsuit against President
Muhammadu Buhari, asking the court to “declare unlawful the refusal by the
Federal Government to meet ASUU’s demands, which has occasioned the prolonged
strike action and violated the students’ right to quality education.”
Defendants in the suit are the
Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Chris Ngige, and
Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami,
SAN.
The suit followed the apparent lack of
commitment by the Federal Government to implement the agreements with the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and to end the over
seven-month-old industrial action by the union, and the threat by the
government to implement its “no work, no pay” policy.
In the suit number NICN/ABJ/269/2022 filed
last week at the National Industrial Court, Abuja, SERAP and the students are
seeking: “an order directing President Buhari and Mr Ngige to immediately
implement all the agreements with ASUU in order to end the strike action and
violation of the students’ right to quality education.”
According to SERAP and the students: “Disruption
of classes undermines both the quality and duration of students’ education.
This situation has aggravated existing disparities in access to university
education in the country, further marginalizing economically disadvantaged
parents and students.”
The suit on behalf of SERAP and the
students by their lawyer Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, read in part: “The Federal
Government has failed to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the right to
quality education, and the right to freedom of association through the
principle of collective bargaining.
“Although Nigeria has ratified several
human rights treaties, which guarantee the right to quality education of
Nigerian students, the Federal Government has over the years refused to meet
the demands by ASUU, and to address the poor environment in the country’s
universities.
“The students who are co-claimants in the
suit are Dongo Daniel Davou; Oyebode Joshua Babafemi; Ejie Kemkanma; Peter
Itohowo Aniefiok; and Imam Naziru. They are students of Plateau State
University, Obafemi Awolowo University, University of Port Harcourt, University
of Uyo, and University of Ibadan, respectively.
“The failure to implement the agreements
with ASUU is also a fundamental breach of the right to education without
discrimination or exclusion, as strike actions continue to penalize
economically disadvantaged parents who have no means or capacity to send their
children to private schools.
“Equal access of Nigerian children and
young people to quality and uninterrupted education including at the university
level would contribute to producing citizens who are fundamentally equal and
people who actively participate in society.
“It would enable people to enjoy the rights
as well as fulfil obligations that are associated with citizenship.
“SERAP had earlier advised President Buhari
to recover the N105.7 billion stolen public funds and utilize same in addition
to specified percentages of the N3.6 billion feeding and travels allowances for
the President and the N134 billion allocated to the National Assembly in the
2022 Budget to meet the legitimate demands by ASUU.
“Apart from being a right in itself, the
right to education is also an enabling right. Education is a public good.
“Education creates the ‘voice’ through
which rights can be claimed and protected, and without education people lack
the capacity to achieve valuable functioning as part of the living.
“Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions
have continued to experience a steady decline. The quality of public education
offered is low and standards have continued to drop. The learning environment
does not promote effective learning.
“The right to bargain freely with employers
with respect to conditions of work constitutes an essential element in freedom
of association, and trade unions including ASUU should have the right to seek
to improve the living and working conditions of those whom they represent.
“The Federal Government has continued to
ignore the plights of teeming undergraduates, who have been denied access to
quality education due to the lingering strike action occasioned by the
continued reluctance of the Defendants and their agents to implement the
agreements with ASUU.
“The breach of the agreements by the
Federal Government clearly provides a reasonable basis for ASUU members to
exercise their right to strike as a last resort. It is unlawful to punish the
members simply for peacefully exercising their right.
“Nigerian students in public universities
have suffered many years of disruption as a result of the failure of
governments to address the root causes of strike action by ASUU and to
faithfully implement the agreements reached with the union, leading to
devastating consequences on the right to equal and quality higher education.
“The Federal Government has breached the
explicit right to equal access to higher education of Nigerian children and
young people, as provided for by article 13(2)(c) of the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
“Providing Nigerian children and young
people equal access to education should be the core public service functions of
the Federal Government.
“Owing to poor funding, poor remuneration
system, unconducive learning and training environments in public tertiary
institutions in Nigeria, ASUU after a protracted strike action concluded the
FGN-ASUU 2009 Agreement in October 2009.
“According to reports and available
evidence, the FGN-ASUU Initialled 2009 Agreement sought among others, the
resolution of the following underlying issues: proper funding of public
tertiary institutions to the tune of N1.3 trillion to be implemented across a
period of 4 years between 2009 and 2013.
“It was agreed that the N1.3 trillion
funding of Government-owned tertiary institutions would span between years 2014
and 2018. It was also agreed that the sum of N200 billion Naira would be
released to public tertiary institutions in 2013 while a tranche of N220
billion Naira was to be paid yearly between 2014 and 2018.
“However, according to reports, only the
sum of N200 billion Naira was released in 2014 and no other sum, apart from the
sum of N20 billion Naira released in 2019 was paid to the institutions.”
SERAP and the students are also seeking the
following reliefs:
*A declaration that the refusal of the Defendants to implement the terms
of the FGN-ASUU Renegotiated 2009 Agreements and the 2020 Memorandum of Action
which has occasioned the prolonged strike action is unlawful, inconsistent and
incompatible with Nigeria’s human rights obligations and violates the students’
right to quality education.
*A declaration that the acts of the Defendants and their agents in
withholding the remunerations of the members of ASUU for the period of the
strike while at the same time paying members of sister staff unions is
discriminatory and in violation of ASUU members’ right to freedom of
association, right to strike and collective bargaining.
*An order directing the Defendants and their agents to implement
forthwith the terms of the Renegotiated 2009 Agreement and the 2020 Memorandum
of Action in order to put an end to the strike action and desist from further
violation of the rights of the Nigerian students to quality education.
*An order mandating the Defendants and their agents to immediately
release and pay all the withheld and outstanding remunerations, salary,
allowances and other emoluments both for the period and outside the period of
the current strike action to all members of ASUU.
*An order of perpetual injunction restraining the Defendants and their agents from
unlawfully reneging, rescinding and/or refusing to implement the Renegotiated
FGN-ASUU 2009 Agreement and the 2020 Memorandum.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of
the suit.
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