Attempts to break the ranks of the Academic Staff Union of Universities may be sealed Tuesday as the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige is set to present a certificate of recognition to the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA).
Ngige had reportedly issued an invitation letter to stakeholders inviting them to a brief ceremony in his office where CONUA is to be handed a certificate to show it has the ears of the government.
Should the endorsement sail through, ASUU risks losing recognition and other opportunities for negotiations over the ongoing strike.
The minister had via an invitation signed by Oshundun Olajide, Deputy Director, Press in his ministry, stated that the event was slated to take place in his office at 2pm on Tuesday October 4.
Checks by the NPO Reports showed that the rival union, CONUA, is led by one Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, whose group emerged during a crisis that erupted at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, over the appointment of a new vice chancellor.- The ASUU was seen at the time to have backed what was considered to be a flawed process which allegedly angered some ASUU members. This had led to some members opting out of ASUU and stopping the payment of their check off dues to ASUU. Sunmonu and others were said to have been expelled from ASUU leading to the formation of the new group.
However, after the initial relevance and attention that the group, which then accused the ASUU OAU chapter of favouring a VC candidate, the steam had gone down.
A professor in the Faculty of Sciences at the OAU, who spoke on the condition of anonymity on Tuesday said the Sunmonu-led COANU no longer enjoys any reasonable membership even in OAU where it originated from.
It was gathered that apart from OAU and possibly the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, where the group has handful of members, there is no other university where COANU enjoys any presence.
“I doubt if COANU has more than 40 members across Nigerian universities. When those of them in OAU said they would not be part of the strike, was their threat of any effect? They claimed their members were still working but when the university saw the need to close down, did they not close down the university?” the professor said.
Another senior lecturer at the University of Ibadan who also pleaded anonymity, said the action of the Minister is an indication that the government is creating all fuss to keep the students at home.
“How can a minister who is supposed to be seeing to peaceful resolution of this matter walk out on the ASUU members if he is committed to the good of the universities? He walked out and his next action is to go and recognize one group of dissidents who are just looking for personal gains? It cannot work,” the professor said.
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