The Federal Government will today submit a certificate of registration to the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA), a breakaway group of the lecturers’ union, in light of unresolved issues with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The Federal Government skillfully shattered the ranks of the obstinate ASUU by presenting the certificate of registration to CONUA.
According to a press release issued by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment’s deputy director of press and public relations, Oshundun Olajide, Dr. Chris Ngige, the minister of labor and employment, was anticipated to make the presentation.
The National Coordinator of CONUA, an ASUU faction that broke off, is Niyi Sunmonu, a lecturer at Ile-Obafemi Ife’s Awolowo University (OAU).
To drive home its demands, ASUU has been on strike since February 14. The federal government’s inability to renegotiate the terms of the contract it signed with ASUU in 2009, which included, among other things, the replacement of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) with the UTAS as the payment platform for the university sector, is the cause of the strike.
The union also expressed worry over the fact that IPPIS has never been used in a university system anywhere and that the system forbids the stealing of foreign academics, contract employees, and researchers from existing universities to build new ones.
However, the Federal Government claimed that neither the payment mechanism nor it intended to interfere with university autonomy.
The National Industrial Court ordered the institution to resume operations on September 21, 2022, but the university teachers have stayed steadfast.
Earlier, ASUU appealed the court’s decision through its attorneys.