After several attempts by the federal government to break the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU’s) monopoly failed, CONUA, a new academic association, eventually berthed a few months ago. KEHINDE OSASONA in this report wonders if it will change the trend.
The trend
While expressing its frustration over wave of endless strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in 2022, the president, National Association of Nigerian Students (NANs), Sunday Asefon, described ASUU’s declaration of an indefinite strike as unpatriotic, unnecessary, and wicked.
In a statement made by the union leader when the strike entered its 200th day in 2022, Asefon described ASUU demands as being insensitive, selfish, inconsiderate, and uncharitable.
Titled ‘ASUU declaration of indefinite strike: Time for government at all levels to act and save Nigeria universities from ASUU, the union leader came down heavily on ASUU leadership, saying its action was an attempt to collapse the sector for their selfish and inconsiderate gains.
“This demand is not only insensitive; it is selfish, inconsiderate, and uncharitable. The six months were periods of no work. We, therefore, encourage the government to use every available legal window available to it and ensure that ASUU does not kill our tertiary education system,” NANs insisted.
However, following outcry generated by the last strike which paralysed almost all public universities in the country, concerned Nigerians and parents had condemned the failure of the federal government and the union to resolve the crisis and reopen the universities.
The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Chris Ngige, and the leadership of ASUU have constantly engaged in confrontation over the endless strike, a development that made President Muhammadu Buhari’s to issue a directive that the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, should take over negotiations.
But prior to the recent strike, the university lecturers had in 2020 embarked on a nine-month industrial action, which they suspended on December 24 of that year. Although ASUU declared a month’s strike in 2022, rather than fashion a way out of the logjam, it had been rolling its strike actions over after the expiration of each declaration.
As if it was ready for a showdown, ASUU had after one of its National Executive Council meetings in Abuja on August 29, declared that its industrial action would henceforth be “comprehensive, total and indefinite,” What followed the brick-bat was a declaration for an endless months of strike action.
Some of their demands Blueprint Weekend recall includes; funding for the revitalization of public universities. Payment of earned academic allowances (EEA). Reconstitution of the FGN/ASUU 2009 Renegotiation Committee, Adoption of UTAS, calls for the review of the Nigeria Universities Commission (2004) Act to tackle the proliferation of universities among other demands.
While it lasted, talks between the union and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, to solve the deadlock collapsed severally and yielded no result. At a particular meeting, ASUU leaders walked out on the federal government representatives, alleging inability to make any offer to them.
Although the government proposed a sum of N150 billion in the 2023 budget for the revitalization of federal universities and N50 billion for the payment of outstanding areas of EAA among others, the bait was not enough to tone down ASUU agitation, a situation which made the government to commence a rebellion to break its rank and polarize its movement.
The ‘coup’
President Buhari fired the first salvo when he accused ASUU of being involved in endemic corruption in the education sector, saying that it has undermined the federal government’s investment in education.
Speaking at the fourth National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in the Public Sector, Buhari said corruption from the basic to tertiary levels of education greatly marred the government’s investment in the sector. The president noted that the incessant strikes by unions has created the impression that the government was underfunding education.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, while formally welcoming the newly registered Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA) claimed its birth would help liberalize the academic sub-sector and allow more freedom for university workers.
With the registration granted the union, the federal government may have ascribed all rights and privileges of a union to the union.
Ngige while justifying the government’s action hinted that there were differences among the key segments of the universities, especially those who did not believe in recurring strikes as a solution to every welfare problem.
The minister stated, “In view of the above, I, Senator Chris Nwabueze Ngige, in the exercise of the power conferred on me as the Minister of Labour & Employment, do hereby approve the registration of CONUA and NAMDA.
“The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in the discharge of her mandate in the management of employment relationships and the administration of trade unions to ensure harmonious industrial relations system in the nation has decided to approve the registration of two more trade unions in the Nigerian university academic sub- sector. The university sub-sector is a major development plank of any nation’s socio-economic growth.”
He told the new unions, “In view of this registration, you are entitled to all rights and privileges accruable to unions of similar status which include the right to receive check off dues of members. You can now go back to your institutions and open the doors of your classrooms to teach the students.”
While explaining the government decision, Ngige said in the last eight months, the classrooms in the country’s public universities had been shut and students kept at home by the strike action embarked upon by ASUU. He lamented that the ugly situation had persisted despite a series of engagements to resolve the trade dispute by the federal government through the Ministry of Education.
The minister alleged, “However, all efforts at conciliation failed resulting in the transmission of the trade dispute to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) for adjudication in line with the statutory trade dispute resolution processes.
“At the NICN, an Interlocutory Injunction Order was obtained asking the Union to get back to work while the substantive suit is being heard; an order ASUU leadership and members refused to obey. Interestingly, a lot of university teachers in the public universities had indicated their willingness to get back to work while negotiations continue.”
What difference can CONUA make?
Many academics who believe that the government has ulterior motives, like distracting ASUU from its struggles and probably reopening the universities without fulfilling the union’s demands opted for CONUA.
Some others however are of the opinion that CONUA philosophy might have endeared it to parents, students, and other citizens who seem tired of the endless strikes that has plagued the nation’s citadel of learning of the years.
According to a report, CONUA commenced its registration process in 2018 but the government then was reluctant to approve the registration, saying it did not want to create a problem.
CONUA, which domiciled in OAU, berthed following a leadership crisis within the university’s chapter of ASUU during the selection process of a new vice-chancellor of the university.
The crisis had also consumed the then outgoing vice-chancellor of the university, Bamitale Omole, who was then chased out of the institution by protesting non-academic staff unions.
But despite all the accolades heaped on the new union by the government, stakeholders in the academic parlance see things differently.
While speaking, President of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, was quoted as describing CONUA as an inconsequential collection of dissidents, whose inordinate ambitions fed the labour minister’s hubris.
Osodeke insisted that Ngige was only being desperate over what was known to him alone.
Though to many, the move is seen as the government’s delay tactics, others like the national coordinator, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, sees it as a new regime formed to stabilise the academic calendar to improve the quality of education in tertiary institutions.
How CONUA rules of engagement capable of creating a common ground between government and stakeholders in reshaping the country’s academic transition remains to be seen.
