CONUA announces what union will do differently

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.

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.

Sunmonu stated that there shouldn't be a "just this way or the highway" mentality when it comes to solving problems.

Sunmonu, while speaking on Arise TV  ‘News Night’ aired Tuesday, said the use of strike action to press home demands in the country had been on for well over 40 years, saying, “in that period of 40 years, we’ve had different kinds of governments, the military dictators, the democracy that we all enjoy; we’ve had one response and that response is put pen to paper on an 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’re 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.”

Sunmonu noted that even in situations of outright wars, “issues are resolved at the table; why can’t we devote more time to that so as to avoid casualties? In this case, casualties are parents and students.”

“We want to deploy all our faculties, all our networks to the area of discussions at the table that will lead to a win-win situation; discussions that will lead to an agreement that the other side will not feel it’s being compelled 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 would coexist with ASUU, according to Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Productivity, who spoke as he handed the certificates of registration to the two groups.

Currently, ASUU is on strike as of February 14, 2022. Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, the government-instituted payment platform, should be replaced with the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, according to the union, which is the most respected umbrella organisation for university lecturers in Nigeria. The union also wants adequate funding for universities. Following complaints about the IPPIS's purportedly subpar standardisation and incompatibility with the university system, ASUU created the latter.

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