The recently registered Congress of Nigerian Universities Academics, CONUA, says a strike is no longer an option as the union is considering other means of driving their demands home with the federal government. Being a rival to the Academic Staff Union of the Nigerian University, CONUA has bragged that though it recently secured registration, it has established its presence in 17 universities across the federation and still working on registering new members.
The National Union Coordinator of the academicians, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu disclosed this during an interview with The punch in Abuja on Tuesday shortly after the Minister of Labor and Employment Dr. Chris Ngige announced the registration of the two newly registered unions, CONUA and National Association of Medical and Dental Academic.
In his statement as quoted by punch, Sunmonu said, “As of the last count, even before this registration, we have 17 branches nationwide. It includes state and federal universities. Of course, numerical strength varies from university to university. Now that we have been given legal recognition by the government, we are hopeful that more branches will come on board and more members will come on board.
The CONUA new leader explained that since the time they hatched the idea, they were holding a different perspective different from that of ASUU, especially on issues concerning the use of industrial action to press their demand on the federal government, noting that there is a problem everywhere in the country and universities are not exceptional.
He added, “We are not saying there are no issues in the universities but we believe that those issues can be approached in a very different manner without using the instrument of a strike.
“Strike action has been greatly overused, and it has been overused to the extent that the damage it has done to the system is more than good. For us, strike action is out.
Sunmonu further stated that CONUA being a new entity, needs to organize its branches and look for a robust way of engaging the federal government, especially through dialogue as it has remained the best powerful tool for negotiation.
At the end of the day, a win-win situation will be established for all the stallholders in education like the students, parents, lecturers, and the federal government, Sunmonu added.
