By Elizabeth Uwandu

Following the formation of a splinter group, Congress of University Academics (CONUA) from the Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU), the National Coordinator of CONUA, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, tells Sunday Vanguard the inside story.

•Dr. Sunmonu

What do you make of the emergence of CONUA from ASUU?

The Nigerian Constitution guarantees freedom of association. It is that freedom that people who have come together to form CONUA are exercising. They feel they can no longer continue with a union that claims to be representing the interests of Nigerian academics but which has become a behemoth suppressing the rights of its members.

It currently operates like a business enterprise, where a National President rides a ten million naira car. Their centre is very heavy because 61 percent of check-off is contributed to the national body, leaving the branches to suffer. Currently, professors pay more than N5, 000 monthly.

If you look at the 19-year breakaway chapter of the University of Ilorin, the check-off collected was just in two categories: N500 and N1, 000 for different categories of academics, including professors. With this little contribution, many welfare projects were executed, including but not limited to the building of secretariat, hostels, shopping complex and purchase of vehicles. These projects were all executed with this meagre monthly contribution.

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So, for us, there will be a clear departure from this current attitude of seeing the union as a cash cow. This, we hope, will bring healthy competition for the progress of our universities and our nation at large. After the union has been registered, it hopes to operate on a different wavelength from ASUU. The union (ASUU) currently represents a huge contradiction.

What led to the group’s emergence?

There is injustice, high-handedness, suppression of freedom of speech and denial of members’ rights in ASUU. The President of that other union has become a dictator. He removes members of branch executive with fiat and puts whoever he likes in position. Members who raise objections are summarily expelled. At one of their National Executive Council ,NEC, meetings in Gombe last year, over 800 members, out of about 1,300 academics of the Obafemi Awolowo University were declared as having ceased to be members of the union. Things simply cannot continue like this. This is why some of us decided to come together to create another union where justice and fairness will stand as cardinal principles.

Let me cite an instance concerning misrepresentation. In the exercise of selecting a Vice Chancellor for the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife in 2016, the local branch Chairman of ASUU, Dr. Caleb Aborisade, granted a press conference where it was stated that the exercise was “free, fair and credible” This is against palpable evidence. When the congress objected and directed that it should be repudiated, the branch executive under the leadership of Aborisade got the NEC to support the pronouncement via publication in newspapers. The NEC has refused to distance itself from that publication till date.

What does it seek to achieve?

We want to redefine unionism in Nigeria, one where members’ interests will be held as cardinal. That other union has become a huge business empire, rather than a union. We are starting a real union with CONUA. We also want to restore a stable academic calendar in public universities.

A situation where students spend as much as six years for a four-year programme for no fault of theirs is a mockery of university education, anywhere in the world. In other words, students should be able to predict their graduation year right from the year they are granted admission. This, we observed, is largely responsible for the exodus of young Nigerians to neighbouring African countries in search of university education and proliferation of private universities, with inferior facilities and standards to the governments owned ones. Also, we observed that in the 19 years of divorce between ASUU and the University of Ilorin, it remains one of the most sought after, in terms of admission.

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There are suspicions that the Federal Government may be behind the development, how true?

This is very untrue. Rather, we observed that it is ASUU that is using its might to stall our registration. What a double standard? We just feel that we can no longer continue in a union, which pretends to be concerned with justice and fairness but represses its members.

How would the group relate with ASUU?

Once we are able to sort out the issue of our registration, we will operate on principles we hold dear with serious commitment, under the protection of the Nigerian constitution. There will not be any issue with anyone or any union as we will have to respect the rights of others while at the same time insisting on ours. I have not seen problems with Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, coexisting. Areas of cooperation can come from time to time, and areas of differences will be respected.

ASUU said the group is an association of Vice-Chancellors who were penalised for questionable practices. They even termed CONUA as a distraction. How true is this?

Again, this is very untrue and baseless. But, he who asserts must prove. They should be asked to substantiate their allegation

How is the membership of the group drawn?

Academics that share our values, principles, and aspirations, will subscribe to us automatically. And this is the greatest drive of our union.

In OAU alone, we have over 800 members. I can provide the register if you feel like seeing it. Each of these people wrote letters to the bursary asking that their checkoff to the other union be stopped as they are no longer interested in being its member. They also out of their own volition decided to come together to start a new union.

It was later that we discovered that simultaneously at about the same time, similar things were going on, on other campuses. Soon, these different campuses decided to come together to constitute themselves into just one umbrella. It may interest you to know that we have continued to receive expressions of interest from more and more campuses.

What are your grievances against ASUU?

Before I go into some instances, permit me to look at the general principles on which that other union we used to be part of, was originally built on, principles which in the time past made it a force to be reckoned with.

These are principles of justice, fairness, probity, equity, accountability, transparency, the right of members to freely express their views and positions. Also, its leadership was made of men and women of steel, integrity and unimpeachable character, up and until recent years. These sterling qualities of leaders and lofty principles have been jettisoned of late. The current leadership is dictatorial, unfair, unjust, not accountable, and has no respect for constitutional provisions. Two instances would suffice, for now, in my view.

In Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, in 2016, complaints were made against a sitting Financial Secretary. He was accused of violating Article 14, Section 14b of the union’s constitution. We made it clear that because of this, he was no longer qualified to run for a position in the union.

But the electoral committee for that year cleared the man] for the election, and he was further absolved of any blame by a fact-finding team that was sent to the branch. The team was led by the current Vice President. The man in question, Dr. Adekilekun Saheed, did not only finish his term but was even single-handedly selected by the President and appointed Branch Treasurer.

The other instance was the single-handed removal of a sitting Treasurer by the President, against the letter and spirit of the much-touted constitution, and the unilateral appointment, by the same President, of another member to replace the Treasurer of the Branch. No bye-election was ordered or conducted in contradiction of the same constitution. This is the President that has been accusing others of violating the constitution. Those who want to come to equity should do so with clean hands. It is clear that the Union no longer believes in this much-tested dictum. This is what some of us cannot take. We are not ready to tolerate injustice, impunity, and lawlessness. It is one of the reasons for our decision.

In summary, there were a lot of cases of gross disrespect for the constitution, high-handedness, and repression. The need to depart from these retrogressive practices made us decide to seek a different platform.

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What is the position of CONUA over the failure of the federal government to fully implement the agreement it reached with ASUU over the years?

The government should honour agreements it freely entered into. I won’t say more than that since we are concentrating on building and nurturing our union along the lines of our values, ideals, and principles. I will like to react to a statement credited to the National President of the other union, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi in one of the national dailies on October 10, 2019, that he has commenced peace talks.

I will like to state categorically that we are not aware of any peace move. How can you open a peace talk with a group you initially denied its existence, a group you labelled as being sponsored, and a group you expelled from your union. You can see a lot of contradictions here. Well, this current leadership of that union has perfected the art of lying and misinforming the general public. It is a diversionary tactic and we won’t fall for it. We are focused on seeing through our registration.

Vanguard