Following the suspension of nationwide strike embarked upon by the Academic staff union of universities (ASUU), it branch in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife said it will decide on resumption of academic activities.
Recall that ASUU OAU had commenced indefinite strike over failure of the management to pay their earned academic allowance even before the commencement of nationwide strike.
According to the institution’s spokesperson, Mr Abiodun Olarenwaju, there was a disagreement between the members of the academic staff of the university(ASUU and CONUA) which the university management wanted them to resolve before the disbursement of the allowances.
However, It wasn’t immediately cleared if the union demands had been met by OAU management.
DAILY GIST contacted ASUU-OAU chairman, Dr. Adeola Egbedokun on Friday to confirm whether it would follow the directive of ASUU NEC following the suspension of the nationwide strike as announced by the national president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke on Friday.
Dr. Egbedokun told DAILY GIST its decision on resumption would be made known in its next congress, noting that ASUU-OAU were on strike before the nationwide industrial action commence.
“The union would hold a congress you would hear from us when we hold our congress.”he stated on Friday.
Recall also that OAU-ASUU did not reach a consensus while other branches made a “Yes or No” decision to suspend the nationwide strike.
The decision may sequel to strike embarked upon by ASUU-OAU before the national body declared a strike.
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and Congress of Universities Academic (CONUA) are the two academic unions in OAU that operate as parallel bodies with almost similar modus operandi, even though the latter is a breakaway faction of the former.
CONUA which started at OAU in 2018 has now been registered and recognized by the federal government.
But ASUU had said it was not bothered about the federal government’s move, describing it as “illegal”.
Checks by DAILY GIST confirmed that CONUA has tentacles in Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma; Federal University, Oye Ekiti; Federal University, Lokoja; and Kwara State University, Malete, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike; University of Benin; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Jos;
According to the National Coordinator, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, CONUA was formed to give a new approach to handling issues affecting universities across the country. He said the first mandate of the new union would be to ensure a stable academic calendar to improve the quality of education in tertiary institutions.
CONUA believes strike is not the only way out to resolving disputes.
