We never went on strike,Stop treating us like ASUU—CONUA tells FG

The Congress of University Academics (CONUA) has asked the Nigerian government to pay its members the remaining part of their withheld salaries.

The academic union, a breakaway from the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), asked the government to stop lumping up its members’ issues with those of ASUU members, saying its members had consistently denied being on strike while the ASUU strike lasted in 2022.

The latest position is contained in a statement issued by CONUA and signed by its National President, ‘Niyi Sunmonu, who commended President Bola Tinubu for paying four months from the almost eight months’ withheld salaries of universities’ academic staff.

Dated Thursday, 29 February 2024, and titled: “State of the Nation, Payment of Four Months out of Seven and a Half Months’ Withheld Salaries, Stagnation of Remuneration of Academics, and Call for Negotiations,” CONUA urged the President to speed up his efforts and interventions aimed at repositioning the country for good and to address the pains of the poor due to economic hardship.

The statement reads in part: “Our Union, CONUA, has consistently maintained that it never declared and was not part of any strike action.

“Since CONUA neither called for nor joined any strike, withholding the three and a half months salaries of members of the union 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. In conclusion on this, CONUA demands that the process of paying these outstanding months be kick-started immediately to ensure lasting peace in our ivory towers.”

The union also appreciated Mr Tinubu’s payment of four of the seven-and-a-half months withheld salaries. It, however, asked the government to pay its members the remaining three and half months, claiming they never embarked on strike.

“What the government had done was to lump together those who embarked on strike with those who did not,” Mr Sunmonu, a senior lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), said.

It said failure to pay CONUA members for the remaining months would mean that the government doesn’t appreciate other measures other than a strike to pursue the demands of academics.

The workers’ union also called on the government to expedite action on the implementation of the 35 per cent and 23.5 per cent salary increment for staff of tertiary institutions through a memo from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC) announced in September and which was supposed to be effective from January.

“CONUA finds it appalling that one year after the directive; it has not been implemented even in the face of excruciating suffering of Nigerian academics brought about by inflation,” it said.

“CONUA, therefore, calls for the implementation of this directive and also demands the constitution of a negotiation committee, without further delay, that will include all academic unions in the university and other stakeholders to negotiate the upward review of emoluments of academics in Nigerian universities while taking into account the current realities created especially by the fuel subsidy removal.”

Meanwhile, CONUA aligned with ASUU in the call for restoring the dissolved governing council of universities.

The union described the move as an error and called on Mr Tinubu to “correct it”, saying it violates the Universities Autonomy Act No. 1, 2007.

“Section 3(2A) of the Amendment Act states as follows concerning the tenure of Governing Councils: “The Council so constituted shall have a tenure of four years from the date of its inauguration provided that where a Council is found to be incompetent and corrupt it shall be dissolved by the Visitor and a new Council shall be immediately constituted for the effective functioning of the University.” It is our belief that the action of correcting the errors will negate the unintended impression that the government is unappreciative of the invaluable services of the distinguished Nigerians some of whom were literally begged to put their wealth of experience at the service of the nation’s educational system,” the statement added