Industrial Courts and the Management of Industrial Dispute between Government and ASUU, 2009-2017

For over two decades now both the Federal and State government have at various time been involved in industrial dispute with the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian universities (ASUU) and which has become a recurring decimal in the country’s citadel of learning. This paper examined National Industrial Court and the management of industrial dispute between Government and ASUU 2009-2017with the objectives of identify the factors that trigger industrial conflict between Government and ASUU, discover the role of National Industrial Court in the management of Federal Government and ASUU disputes and ascertain the effect of Government and ASUU conflict on educational development in Nigeria. Data was collected through documentary and survey sources while purposive sampling technique was used to draw a sample size of twelve (12) discussants for a Focus Group Discussion. The quantum of data generated were analyzed using content analysis technique. The study found that non-implementation of agreements reached between government and ASUU, sabotage by university authorities who collude with government to sabotage ASUU, Poor salaries and infrastructure in the universities, failure of successive regimes to implement agreements it did not enter with ASUU because of the financial implications, are the cause of incessant industrial dispute between Government and ASUU.  It was also found that negotiation and referral to National Industrial Court is the most powerful strategy in industrial dispute resolution, incessant Government and ASUU industrial dispute leads to; brain drain of professional teaching staff, affects student’s academic performance, contributes to low quality of graduates and make students to resort to criminalities. The paper therefore recommends that every regimes in the country should endeavor to honour any agreement it entered with ASUU during their tenure instead of transferring such to their successor regimes,  ASUU should use every legal means to compel any regime it entered agreement with to implement it during their  tenure, the National Industrial court should make use of judicial independence to deliver unbiased judgement whenever ASUU and Government had dispute.