The Congress of University Academics (CONUA) which was registered during the just concluded strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU) has expressed its disappointment with the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari over the non-payment of its members’ withheld salaries.
ValidViewNetwork reports that the University educational system is yet to heal from the effects of the strike.
The displeasure and disappointment of the union was contained in a statement signed on December 5, 2022 by its National President, Secretary, and Publicity Secretary, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, Dr. Henry Oripeloye, and Dr. Ernest Nwoke respectively.
It would be recalled that CONUA and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) were registered by some Academic Staff in the heat of ASUU strike which lasted for eight months.
CONUA in the statement posited that it was wrong for the FG to lump its members with the members of Academic Staff Union of Universities who went on eight months strike between February and October 2022.
The statement read: “CONUA formally made its non-involvement in the strike known to the Federal Government in a letter addressed to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, in April 2022.
“In the letter, we made it clear that because CONUA constituted a separate and independent union in the university system, our members did not call for any strike. This was followed by a Press Conference in Abuja on August 19, 2022 at which it was categorically stated that CONUA was not part of any ongoing strike, and that the “No Work No Pay” principle ought not to apply to members of the union.”
The statement read further : “CONUA’s expectation is that, due to the express and categorical declaration, the government would seamlessly release our members’ outstanding salaries when it resumed the payment of salaries to all university staff in October 2022. But to our dismay, CONUA members were also paid pro-rata salaries in complete disregard to the fact that we were indeed shut out of duties by the strike.”
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It is hoped that there will be concerted efforts to rescue the Universities from another strike.
