CONUA urges ASUU to obey Industrial Court order

By Ukpono Ukpong

The newly registered Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA) has appealed to the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to obey the order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), asking its members to go back to work.

The Chairman of CONUA, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (ABU) chapter, Abdulahi Isiaku, made this appeal yesterday while speaking with journalists at the premises of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division.

Isiaku who led a team of CONUA officials to observe proceedings in the appeal filed by ASUU, challenging the interlocutory injunction by NICN, said although their members did not join the strike, they were locked out of the system because their sister union embarked on strike .

The union leader regretted that they were not being paid salaries because of the understanding that ASUU represented all academic staff.

He restated that CONUA does not subscribe to the method adopted by ASUU in tackling the problems bedeviling the university system in Nigeria, adding that incessant strikes could be counterproductive and detrimental to the development of university education in the country.

He said: “We are monitoring the case in court and we are interested in its outcome. But as you know, we are not members of ASUU and we have not been on strike all this while. Our members were working in the universities when suddenly the other union declared strike and then, management closed down universities.

“Since that time, our members have not been on strike. We are appealing to our sister union, ASUU, to consider the Nigerian students and the development of education in Nigeria and obey the ruling of the Industrial Court that says that lecturers should come back to work and that universities should be reopened.

“Our members are ready to work. It is left for the Vice Chancellors to open up the universities. Our members have not been paid all this while because of the understanding that all academic staff are being represented by ASUU. Probably that is why Federal Government stopped salaries for everybody.”

Isiaku said now it is very clear that ASUU is no longer the only union in Nigerian universities, they are hopeful that their members would be paid accordingly.

While noting that they were not employed to teach only undergraduate students, he revealed that many of their members have been engaging postgraduate students virtually and independently in their offices all this while.

“We are equally engaged in our various researches and community development. The key thing here is that schools have been shut down. We have basically been locked out of the system by the management because our sister union declared strike.

“So with this registration of CONUA, we are appealing to Nigerian university lecturers to join hands with us in coming back to work, so that we can discharge our responsibilities accordingly.

He denied insinuations that they were being used by the Federal Government to break the ranks of ASUU.

“We are not spoilers. We are interested parties in the development of educational system in Nigeria because we are lecturers. And we did not subscribe to ASUU’s methods of tackling these problems in Nigerian universities. That is why we formed our own group and luckily for us, the Federal Government yesterday granted us our registration. It didn’t come easy. We have been fighting for this since 2018. That was even the formal application that we put. But, we have been challenging many of the actions that our sister union do take, to always embark on strike at the slightest provocation. We believe that strike is grounding the system more than the issues they are raising.

“We believe in continuous dialogue with government. We believe in continuous negotiation including all stakeholders. To continuously declare strike and shut out students and others, is not the way to go.

“Our members have been pulling out from ASUU. ASUU’s membership has been depleting by the day. As we speak now, with this registration, many ASUU members being suppressed because there was no other platform to air their views, will join us, especially, so called ASUU members in state universities that were not respected at all by ASUU. CONUA is now here and we are inviting them to join us, so that we can develop Nigeria’ s education system.”

Meanwhile, the Appeal Court told ASUU and the Federal Government to go and do an amicable resolution of the dispute.

The three-man panel of the court presided over by Justice Hamma Akawu Barka directed the lead counsels of both parties to convey its opinion to their clients. Other members of the panel are Justices Biobele Georgewill and Bature Isa Gafai.

Earlier when the matter was called, lead counsel to ASUU, Femi Falana SAN, told the court that he brought two motions.

Falana withdrew the one dated September 23, 2022 and upheld the one dated September 28, 2022.

Falana said he served the motion for stay of execution of the interlocutory injunction on the office of the Attorney General of the Federation.

The Federal Government counsel, James Igwe, said he has not been served with the motion.

The Court after offering its opinion on amicable resolution of the dispute by both parties, adjourned the matter to Thursday for further proceedings.