Dr ‘Niyi Sunmonu is the National Coordinator of the newly registered Congress of Nigeria University Academics, a new union of academic staff working in public universities. In this interview with BOLA BAMIGBOLA, he insisted CONUA was not registered to rival the Academic Staff Union of Universities
When was the Congress of Nigeria University Academics formed and what necessitated its formation?
The Congress of Nigeria University Academics was formed on February 12, 2018 and issues leading to the formation of CONUA are many but can be broadly categorised into two. These issued date back to around 2013 and actually got to a head in 2016.
The first one was the violation of the constitutional provision of the Academic Staff Union of Universities; and the second were issues arising from the selection process for the eleventh substantive Vice-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
In 2013, there was an election to fill about nine vacant leadership positions in ASUU and there was this protest against the nomination of Professor Akinola’s candidacy. Professor Akinola was vying for the chairmanship position that year but there were allegations that he was not duly nominated. The person who nominated him was not a (due-) paying member of the union. On this allegation, petitions were written and sent to the national leadership of ASUU. Surprisingly, the National Executive Council, in its wisdom, cancelled all the elections, including even the ones that petitions were not written against. That is a constitutional violation. You will recall that the year 2013, 2016 and 2018, precisely 2018 when CONUA was formed, there was no industrial action. So, the formation of CONUA predates the current industrial action.
Last week, amid failed efforts to persuade ASUU to call off its ongoing protracted strike, the Federal Government decided to register CONUA and NAMDA. Many see it as a strategy to break ranks of striking lecturers who are asking for better funding for tertiary education. How do you react to your colleagues in ASUU who see those of you in CONUA as saboteurs?
Opinion, perspectives are free. Everybody has one. I will see it as their view, their perspectives and it is respected. If there is anybody that will provide clarification on why the Federal Government chose to do what it did when it did it, it has to be the Ministry of Labour, not us. But for us, asking to be recognised as a legal trade union, since the sister union that threw us under the bus is not interested in taking us, is a right thing. They can’t ask us to take the reward of our effort and we push it aside. So, we will see it as their perspective. As far as we are concerned, it is a just cause and we have been vindicated at the end of the day.
Was it CONUA that approached the Federal Government for registration or was it the other way round?
I will put it out there again; CONUA applied for registration in May 2018 because we cannot operate without the recognition of the government. As a trade union, we can’t; it will be tantamount to breaking the law of the land. We will not be able to even fight for the welfare of our members. So, we, members of CONUA, purchased an application form dated March 28 and we filled it with all the requirements and we submitted it, I think, on May 2 (2018). Let it be known that the first thing we got was rejection in January 2019, but we appealed the rejection that same January on 25 grounds, if my memory serves me right. It was the result of that appeal that eventually birthed CONUA on October 2, 2022.
Do you think the emergence of CONUA will force ASUU to end the strike?
CONUA was not formed because it wants to be antagonistic or it wants to fight anybody; no. It was a child of necessity. We were pushed out and had to look for an alternative union. Having said that, we look forward to collaborative engagements with all the unions on campus. So, we are not in contention or competition or in fight with anyone. And it will be unethical of me to start criticising or bad-mouthing the steps taken by other unions. It will not be right. I hope things can be resolved between the union and the government, so that we can have an enabling environment for collaborative work.
Let me say again that the reason for formation of CONUA is not to checkmate or fight anyone. CONUA was not formed because of strike. We have our modus operandi, which is different, anyway. We want to see how we can contribute positively academically and we hope to spread that gospel to our friends.
Do these friends include ASUU members?
We have no enemies; we have love for all, hatred for none.
Are there ideological differences between ASUU and CONUA?
I can only speak for us. We want to see how we can achieve uninterrupted academic calendar. Our mind is not fixed on the method, but we will approach things with the best of solutions.
Are you saying ASUU is using a wrong approach or asking for too much?
I would not want to comment on that.
What is the size of CONUA presently?
Time is not right for that now, in terms of number. I say this because I take October 4 as the date we were given birth to. That doesn’t mean we have not organised ourselves in the past. When CONUA was formed in 2018, it was only in OAU. But by October 2019, we had spread to five universities, including the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti; Kwara State University and Ambrose Alli University.
Our sister union started like that too, with five universities. We can’t start comparing ourselves with our sister union. We respect the fact they have come a long way but we are focusd on nurturing this newborn. We have been taunted in the past that our efforts would result in a stillbirth. We thank goodness that we now have a bouncing baby. We will nurture it. Before the pronouncement on Tuesday, we had grown to 17 universities. It would have been 18 because University of Port Harcourt joined us in 2019 and it was widely publicised by print and electronic media. They were the one who sought us out; we didn’t go after them. But in 2020, they felt they should pull out and we respect that and that’s why we are 17.
Between October 4 and today, our website, my phone lines and that of some national officers have been bombarded with calls by people who want to be part of us. So, at the right time, the public will know.
Will CONUA be telling its members to immediately return to the lecture rooms?
We appreciated the reactions of the parents. We’ve always said it and we will say it time and time again that CONUA is not on strike and it is not the duty of CONUA or any other union that is well respected at that, to open or close universities. That is the duty of university authorities. If universities are opened, because we are not on strike, we will do our bit. I am not oblivious of the fact that our salaries haven’t been paid too, so we will engage government now that we have the instrument to do so, on behalf of our members. We will engage the government on our withheld salaries.
One of our modus operandi is to see, with all our positive energy, how we can achieve uninterrupted academic calendar. We know what that means; we don’t have to go far. When University of Ilorin, between 2011 and 2019 or thereabouts, was running uninterrupted academic calendar, it became the choice university. All of us can attest to that and that is our desire across Nigeria’s universities where we have our members. We are not God that would say be and it is, but we will give our best towards achieving it.
If government refuses to meet some basic demands that will make smooth academic activities possible in universities and CONUA feels industrial action is not an option, what alternative measures are you looking at?
Even with all that has been done before, have we achieved more? In a democratic setting, our hope and aspiration is to deploy the following, but certainly not limited to them, because as time goes on, we will see more reasons to modify our viewpoints.
First is to deploy the tool of continuous engagement. You can never be tired of engagement. We are still basking in the effect of military mentality. We have not really imbibed that democratic culture. We are still growing; we will not be tired of continuous negotiation. Even up to the point of, but not limited to, taking on board some eminent Nigerians who the leadership can listen to for the greatness of our country, because no nation can develop beyond its ivory towers. So, that negotiation, we want to create the right environment for it. Negotiations that would be continuous, we won’t have to wait; in an environment that all stakeholders are equal, so that your mind is not made up before you get to the negotiation table. We are only interested in the progress of the university education. We believe in this much that even in situations of outright wars, we still talk.
The second approach is to take proactive steps before the budget is prepared. How can the union be involved, because as it is now, the unions are not involved? How do I mean? The job of preparing the budget is that of the administrators and it is the union that knows what is best for the universities. The point is that there should be ways the union can intervene at the level of budget preparation, so that budgets are not passed into law before we start shouting. It would make us to look as if we want the government to violate the law of the land.
The third one is to use legislative interventions. Legislative intervention will get the buy-in of people in the national and state Houses of Assembly on the needs of universities. The last, but not the least, is if government agrees and signs and wants to renege on agreement, we will go into the judiciary process, so that we can deepen our democracy and no government will wake up and want to renege on agreement, especially if the court pronounces in favour of the union.
What kind of reception is CONUA getting from students?
There are mixed opinions out there. Now, people are just getting to know about CONUA and the negative opinion, I don’t feel bad about it. The reason is simple: an average human being fights what he does not understand or what he does not have knowledge of. For now, we are yet to demonstrate in concrete terms (what we are about). In the few places where we have demonstrated that, majority of the students have that appreciation. We have demonstrated that in OAU, where this process started, not as CONUA, in 2016. CONUA was formed in 2018.
For students that were admitted in 2016, they would have graduated in 2020 record time if not for the COVID-19 pandemic. So those students appreciate that. So, I don’t have any negative feeling with the negative comments. What we do moving forward, I believe, will change that narrative, view and perspective.
Do you see the possibility of your members being attacked, perhaps by members of the sister union, if you resume classes?
Academics are not touts; I don’t expect that to happen.
What is your message to the parents, students and colleagues on the other side?
I would say with the coming on board of CONUA, we are hoping and praying that industrial action will be a thing of the past because that is where we want to come in. And to parents, by the grace of God, they will start seeing that the time spent on campus by their children would be predictable as we move on. We may not find it easy and we may not get that done in the beginning, but that is our eventual aspiration and for that, parents, students and colleagues should be excited.
Again, for our colleagues, our welfare is the most important. The fight with the government for our welfare is the most important and we will continue to engage government on that from time to time as the trend of the nation unfolds.
