CONUA demand immediate release of over three months of salary of its members withheld by FG

The Congress of University Academia, on Monday, demanded the immediate release of over three months of salary of its members withheld by the Federal Government.

The group which declared that the government’s refusal to pay the outstanding salary could throw universities in the country into crisis, also decried the non-release of Earned Academic Allowance covering a period of over 10 academic sessions.

CONUA, in a press statement signed by its National President, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, obtained in Osogbo, Osun State, on Monday, said the period covered by the withheld salaries was the three and half months during which lecturers belonging to ASUU embarked on strike.

Sunmonu said CONUA members did not call for or embark on industrial action during the period, adding that withholding their salaries was against the July 25, 2023 judgment of the National Industrial Court, which affirmed CONUA as an independent union.

“The union wishes to once again call the attention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) to the continued withholding of the three and a half months salary due to the strike action embarked by a sister academic staff union in the universities.

“CONUA, as a union, has consistently maintained that it never declared and was not part of the strike action.

“What the government had done was to lump together those who embarked on strike with those who did not. This is unjust, and it is tantamount to punishing the innocent along with the guilty.

“The Federal Government’s action actually goes against the judgment delivered on 25th July 2023 at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), which affirmed CONUA as an independent union.

“The President should note that withholding the three and a half months salaries of members of CONUA, who neither declared nor participated in any strike action, also contravenes Section 43 (1b) of the Trade Disputes Act CAP. T8, which states that ‘where any employer locks out his workers, the workers shall be entitled to wages and any other applicable remunerations for the period of the lock-out and the period of the lock-out shall not prejudicially affect any rights of the workers being rights dependent on the continuity of the period of employment’. This provision is consistent with global best practices.”