CONUA break Silence After FG recognition, Reveals how it would go about ASUU Strike

By The Evangelist edition, October 5, 2022.

The Academic Staff Union of Institutions’ breakaway branch, the Congress of Nigerian University Academics, has announced what the new lecturers’ union will do differently to resolve the impasse roiling Nigerian universities, particularly with regard to recurrent strike activities, Ejes Gist Newspaper reports.

Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, the national coordinator of CONUA, emphasised the need for democratisation in the academic environment, saying that this is what academics should be pursuing and that they must approach problems from all angles.

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Sunmonu stated that there should not be a “only this way or the highway” mentality when it comes to solving problems.

On Arise TV News Night, Sunmonu said that the country had been using strike action to press domestic demands for well over 40 years.

He added that during that time, “we have had different kinds of governments, the military dictators, the democracy that we all enjoy; we have had one response, and that response is put pen to paper on agreement and renege on the agreement later.

“We are of the opinion that these agreements, to us, are actually done under duress; where you have the situation in which the other party, which is the government that you are actually discussing with, comes to a meeting with a relaxed mind that once they have an agreement that is workable; when they put pen to paper to sign, they would honour that,” the statement continued.

Sunmonu observed that “issues are resolved at the table; why can’t we devote more time to that so as to avoid casualties? “, even in situations where there are outright battles. Parents and students are the victims in this situation.

What we will do differently – ASUU faction, CONUA
“We want to deploy all of our faculties and networks to the area of table discussions that will result in a win-win scenario; discussions that will result in an agreement that the other side will not feel compelled to put pen to paper to do,” he said.

The National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) and CONUA were among the two unions that the Federal Government registered in the university system on Tuesday in an effort to lessen the power of ASUU.

The two unions will coexist with ASUU, according to Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Productivity, who spoke as he handed the certificates of registration to the two organisations.

Currently, ASUU is on strike as of February 14, 2022. The most respected umbrella organisation in Nigeria for university lecturers, the union, is pushing for better welfare conditions for its members, adequate funding for universities, and the replacement of the government-instituted payment platform, the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, with the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, UTAS.

Following complaints about the IPPIS’s purportedly subpar standardisation and incompatibility with the university system, ASUU created the latter.

That is the latest NewsOnline Today on What we will do differently – ASUU faction, CONUA

Caption:
Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, National Coordinator of CONUA