National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Abuja, will today hear a case filed by the Federal Government against the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the union’s ongoing strike.

The court has summoned the federal government and ASUU to appear before it on Monday, September 12, 2022 over the seven-month-old strike.

However, during the first hearing, Judge Polycap Hamman adjourned the case until Friday 16 September to enable both parties to submit the necessary documents for the trial.

But at the resumed hearing on September 16, the court announced that the case would be further adjourned until today after hearing both parties’ comments.

The judge earlier on Monday ordered the federal government and ASUU to file and exchange their written submissions and fixed today, Friday, for further mention of the matter.

The government application seeks an order restraining ASUU from continuing its ongoing strike “pending the hearing and determination of substantive suit.”

In its reference, the government wants the court to determine the legality or otherwise of the strike. It also wants the court to determine whether ASUU members are entitled to compensation for the period they are on strike.

“It asked the court to interpret the provisions of Section 18 LFN 2004 in its entirety, particularly as it applies to the termination of a strike once a trade dispute has been seized by the Minister of Labor and Employment and conciliation is underway ,” a statement from the Ministry of Labor recently said.

ASUU began an initial four-week strike on February 14, demanding that the government honor the agreements it made with the union.

After several meetings without resolution, ASUU continued to extend its strike for a certain period until August 29 when it extended the strike indefinitely.