The
Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, on Tuesday,
said lack of transparency on the part of the leadership of the Academic Staff
Union of Universities made the Federal Government register rival trade unions
in the university system.
Speaking in his office in Abuja during the
presentation of certificates of registration to the Congress of University
Academics and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics, Ngige
noted that both unions have been officially gazetted and are therefore entitled
to all labour rights as enshrined in the International Trade Unions’
constitution.
He said, “Before 2020, CONUA had approached
the ministry complaining of a lack of democracy and transparency in the
leadership of ASUU, especially in rendering a proper account of their check-up
dues remitted from the government.
“Based on these grievances, the ministry
decided to register the members of CONUA to operate as a full-fledged union,
for which we have issued a certificate of registration and gazetting, which is
part of Section 3:2 of the ITU.
“Unbundling
is not new; the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, NEPA, and NNPC have been
unbundled.”
Also, CONUA President, Dr Niyi Sunmonu,
alleged that the highhandedness of ASUU’s leadership gave birth to the
association, stressing that the era of incessant strikes in the university
system was over.
He, however, protested the continued
remittance of the association members’ check-up dues to ASUU, asking the
minister to intervene to reverse the trend.
The National President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, did
not immediately respond to inquiries by our correspondent as calls and messages
sent to him remained unanswered as of the time of filing this report.
ASUU’s Emergency Congress
Meanwhile, branches of ASUU are set to hold
emergency congresses starting from Wednesday (today), it was reliably learnt. Highly
placed sources who are union executives made this known in Abuja.
The
congress will be discussing the government’s recent move to pay withheld
salaries of CONUA members. Branches are expected to make decisions that will be transmitted to the union's national leadership.
One
of the sources said, “Branches are expected to hold a congress. Ours is tomorrow.
We have refused to say anything to the press because this is a war we want to
be tactical about.”
Another source at the Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka said,
“Yes, it is true. We will be holding our congress in line with the directive of
the national body.”
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