A group of lecturers under the aegis of the Congress of University Academics (CONUA) has called on the Federal Government to liberalise university unions to end the incessant strike action by public universities.
The congress, which described itself as a faction of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), therefore, appealed to the ministry of labour and employment to immediately recognise and register it as a trade union, saying it will break ASUU’s monopoly.
The congress berated ASUU for using strikes as the only tool to resolve issues with the government, saying it has caused more harm than good in the university academic system, as there are other ways of getting demands met.
“Between 1999 and 2021, Nigerian public universities had experienced strikes for 1,417 days which translates to over 5 years. The ongoing strike is in its sixth month. This has caused damage in no small measure to teaching and research.
Niyi Sunmonu, national coordinator of CONUA, said at a press conference in Abuja on Friday.
Read also: Students’ dreams in limbo as ASUU strike lingers
He informed that lecturers under his group have not been on strike, and appealed to the government to, as a matter of urgency, release the salaries of lecturers who did not participate in the ongoing strike declared by ASUU.
He further explained that the liberalisation of academic unions would not only end incessant strikes in universities, but would also engender cross-fertilisation of ideas, nurture healthy competition and protect the interests of all stakeholders.
According to him, the congress is made up of seasoned academics who are determined to proffer solutions to the endemic problems across public universities.
“In April 2018, CONUA applied for registration as a trade union at the ministry of labour and employment, and on November 19, 2020, the minister held a public meeting with CONUA delegates where he gave the ministerial committee (reviewing the registration of CONUA) four weeks to conclude its work.
The national coordinator said the committee has since submitted its report, and urged the government to speed up action on its registration.
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