ASUU to sue FG over the registration of CONUA and NAMDA

The union insists that two or more unions cannot co-exist together in the same sector.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has stated that it is approaching the National Industrial Court (NIC) over the Federal Government’s registration of two other academic unions in the country.

On Tuesday, the Federal Government of Nigeria presented certificates of registration to the Congress of Nigerian Universities Academics (CONUA) and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA)- two factional academic unions.

This led to a further strained relationship between ASUU and the Federal Government, with the former heading to court to sue the latter.

According to ASUU’s lawyer, Femi Falana, who spoke with Channels Television on Thursday, the union is going to court over the issue.

ASUU’S chairman, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke also confirmed the development in a chat with newsmen on Thursday.

“He (Falana) is our lawyer. So, that is correct,” he said.

Falana also mentioned that the co-existence of two or more trade unions in a sector is ‘illegal’ and should not be allowed to happen. According to him, only one unit is allowed to run the affair in a sector.

“You can’t have two trade unions in the same sector. Only a union is allowed to be registered for all academics in Nigeria,” he said.

“That is the essence of the classification of trade unions because we used to have mushrooms in the First Republic so the government restructured the unions and grouped all academics and all non-academics together. You can’t have two or three in one field.”

ASUU has been on a seven-month strike, which began on February 14, 2022, over issues of poor payment, and restructuring of payment modes amongst other things.

It has since escalated to an unending tug-of-war between the Federal Government and the union as students in various Nigerian institutions continue to sit at home.