•••REGISTERS TWO MORE ACADEMIC UNIONS
The Federal Government has embarked a seeming desperate move to break the ranks of striking university lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The Government on Tuesday announced the registration of two unions in the university system known as the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) and the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA).
CONUA which was established in 2018 at Obafemi Awolowo University is meant to be union for lecturers in the the nation’s public universities like ASUU. It has a lecturer of OSU,
is Niyi Sunmonu as its leader.
The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, explained that the two bodies will exist alongside ASUU in the nation’s University system.
The minister explained further that the new university-based unions would enjoy all the privileges extended to other academic unions in the nation’s higher education sector.
ASUU has been on strike since February 14, which has resulted in the closure of all federal and most state universities in the country for seven months.
Repeated meetings between the Federal Government and the leadership of ASUU under Prof Emmanuel Osodeke has not resulted in the resolution of the industrial dispute.
ASUU had on February 14, 2022, embarked on strike to press home their unresolved demands on the federal government.
Some of the lecturers’ demands include funding for the revitalisation of public universities out at N1.1 trillion, payment of earned academic allowances, and adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a preferred payment option, instead of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and payment of promotion arrears.
The lingering strike had forced the students of public universities under the National Association of Nigerian Students to block major roads in cities across the country.
The Federal Government may have opted for desperate options to the lingering strike as the closure of the public universities for seven months has become a major campaign point against the ruling All Progressives Congress.