The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has reacted to the registration of the Congress of Nigerian Universities Academics (CONUA) and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA), by the Federal Government and plans to take a legal action.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, had on Tuesday, presented certificates of registration to CONUA and NAMDA., after several moves to resolve the protracted ASUU strike failed to yield fruits.
Ngige, who spoke, while presenting certificates of registration to the two unions, explained that the two bodies will exist alongside ASUU.
ASUU’s lawyer, Falana, in reaction, said the union would sue the Federal Government over the registration of the two unions.
The National Association of University Students (NAUS), yesterday, urged labour centres in the country and Nigerians to rise to the occasion and prevent the Federal Government from getting away with breaking the ranks of ASUU.
In a statement in Ibadan signed by Adesoji Oladimeji, NAUS Vice President, Southwest, the Southwest zone of NAUS said it was tragic that the approach of government towards resolving the malaise is frivolous.
‘’We expect all labour, trade unions and the general populace to show solidarity and support to ASUU at this junction. If the Minister of Labour successfully breaks ASUU, then he would surely use this same playbook for all other bodies.”
Yesterday, Ngige pleaded with the former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and National Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Prof. Attiru Jega, to stand on the truth and not play politics with the face-off between the Federal Government and ASUU in the union’s protracted strike.
In a statement in Abuja by his media office, Ngige advised Jega, who once led ASUU that “trade unionism must exist for the good of the unions, their members, just as it must lead the vanguard of the public good. It must protect the nation and its people just as it shelters union members.
“It is not a social club for academics to act to the detriment of the nation. This is the piece of advice we thought Jega would avail his former comrades from his presumed deep mine of experience and now a trustee and adviser to ASUU.”
The statement faulted Jega’s claims during a recent television interview that the Minister of Labour turned the ASUU strike into a personal quarrel, as all his actions as chief conciliator of disputes, especially as they relate to the ASUU strike fall within the ambit of the law.
“We have no apologies that today, three unions exist for academics: CONUA, NAMDA and ASUU in the Nigerian universities. More applications are being processed for others. It is left for lecturers to choose which one they want to belong to – a social club for strikers or the one that will use the position to promote education and the future of the Nigerian child. This is democracy untrammeled.”
With reports from Guardian newspapers