By Tosin Olatokunbo
The Academic Staff Union of University, ASUU the flagship body of university lecturers in Nigeria no longer enjoys the camaraderie it once enjoyed in the nation’s ivory towers, following the call of the Congress of University Academics, CONUA on the federal government to re-open the universities.
The federal government had last March shut down universities as part of efforts to contain the spread of COVID 19.
Angry students and parents have since asked the Buhari administration to re-open the schools so that they can resume normal academic work as the novel virus seems to be drawing down across the country.
Owners of private universities have also appealed to the government to remove the lock on universities, insisting that they have already complied with all COVID 19 safety protocols.
But ASUU said it’s too early to throw the nation’s ivory towers open for students to go back to classrooms, citing different reasons, including the safety of its members and students.
CONUA disagreed, comprising lecturers from across the nation’s universities said on Wednesday, after its National Executive Meeting, NEC in Abuja, that the government should throw the universities open for students to go back for lectures.
The breakaway group also accused ASUU of intimidating their members who are ready to go back to work.
According to a statement, signed by CONUA’s National Coordinator, Niyi Sunmonu, titled ‘Stop intimidation of CONUA members,’ the lecturers told the federal government to re-open universities as soon as possible.
CONUA said “The meeting called on the government to reopen universities as soon as possible as CONUA members are ready to resume work.
It however added that everything necessary in terms of COVID-19 protocols must be put in place before reopening the universities in order to prevent students and staff from contracting the disease.”
The group further stated that COVID 19 is like any other ailment that has come to stay and it should not be the reason to put the nations’ education on hold.
It stated that the “ education sector cannot continue to stagnate, as it appears that COVID-19 would continue to be a threat and we must, in the circumstance, learn to strive to lead our normal life.
Union thus urged the government to make available everything that can help our universities to resume work as is being done elsewhere in the world.”
The group warned that it will resist any attempt to intimidate any of its members ready to go back to work.
CONUA said “While saluting those university administrations which held meetings to promote academic staff members during the COVID-19 lockdown, the Union condemned in strong terms those administrations who failed to organise such exercises, despite that several academic staff have been waiting for their promotions for a long time, with some spanning five to ten years.
The Union received information to the effect that some universities held Senate meetings and Congregation elections but refused to convene any meeting to carry out the promotion of its members, simply because some people threatened that such promotions, if ever announced, will be reversed.
CONUA leadership felt outraged by such pronouncements and expressed its resolve to support any efforts by university administrations to facilitate the due promotion of academic staff members.”
Meanwhile, the minister of state for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba has appealed to Nigeria students to be calm as the government is already consulting with stakeholders on how to re-open schools across the country.
The minister disclosed this during the daily briefing of the Presidential Task Force, PTF on COVID 19 held on Wednesday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
