CONUA decries incessant strike actions in Universities

The Congress of University Academics (CONUA) has deplored incessant strikes in the nation’s tertiary institutions.

Speaking with journalists in Benin weekend at the end of its annual meeting in Benin, the President of the CONUA, Dr Niyi Sunmonu said that the association believed in jaw-jaw instead of war-war.

Dr. Sunmonu lamented that in the last 40 years, university lecturers have gone on several strikes to press home their demands for improved services and the sorry state of Nigerian universities, without tangible results.

The president said: “We at CONUA don’t believe in strikes. We believe in dialogue.  Even in war, peace is ultimately achieved on the negotiation table. CONUA believes in jaw-jaw instead of war-war ”

In a statement at the end of its annual meeting in Benin by the union and read by Dr. Sunmonu, the association expressed concern over the continued withholding of three and a half months’ salary of its members due to the strike action embarked upon by its sister academic staff union.

Recall that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in February 2022 declared an indefinite industrial action to press home its demand and lasted eight months.

Consequently, the Federal Government invoked a “no work no pay policy”, withholding the seven and a half month salaries of all academic staff in the Nigerian universities.

The president insisted that the continued withholding of the three and a half months salary of its members is rather unfair, considering the fact that CONUA members were never part of the strike.

The statement added: “What the government has done was to lump together those who embarked on strike with those who did not! This is unjust, and is tantamount to punishing the innocent along with the guilty.

“Through its unwarranted punishment of CONUA members, the government is inadvertently promoting the use of strikes as means of pursuing workers’ demands.

“CONUA-NEC, therefore, notes with apprehension that failure to process and pay these outstanding salaries could throw the Universities into serious crises and jeopardize the peace currently being enjoyed.”

CONUA also demanded the release of third-party deductions for March, April, May, and June 2022 salaries, which it said, were withheld due to the strike action.

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Dr. Sunmonu said: “We demand that the agencies of government involved be directed immediately to release these third-party remittances without further delay.”

The union further called for the payment of promotion arrears spanning up to seven years in some cases, particularly in many state universities.

“This dispiriting state of affairs should be addressed expeditiously to enhance the diligence of the many academics affected by the counter-productive delay in the payment of promotion arrears.”