Chris Ngige, minister of labor and employment, presented certificates of registration to the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) and Congress of University Academics (CONUA), citing the formation of both unions as a result of the dissolution of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
On Tuesday, he gave the presentation in his office. He made note that both unions had received official gazettement and were thus entitled to all labor rights as stated in the constitution of the International Trade Unions.
Ngige added that the complaints over ASUU’s purported lack of democracy, openness, and failure to provide a proper account of check-off dues culminated in the Federal Government taking CONUA’s registration into consideration.
He said the gazetting and certificate presentation were in conformity with section 3:2 of the International Trade Union policy.
His words, “Trade unionism is for workers and employers of labour to organise themselves and it is a voluntary act.
“Prior to 2020 CONUA had approached the Ministry complaining of lack of democracy, and transparency in the leadership of ASUU, especially in rendering proper account of their check-up dues remitted from the government.
“Based on these grievances the Ministry decided to register the members of CONUA to operate as a full-fledged union for which we have issued a certificate of registration and gazetting which is part of section 3:2 of the ITU.
“Unbundling is not new, the Nigerian Union of Pensioners, NEPA and NNPC has been unbundled”.
Meanwhile, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, President of CONUA alleged that the high-handedness of ASUU’s leadership gave birth to the Association, stressing that the era of incessant strikes in the university system was over.
He, however, protested the continued remittance of her member’s check-up dues to ASUU, praying the Minister of Labour to intervene to reverse the trend going forward.
Recall that even though ASUU recently suspended its eight months strike over alleged discrepancies in welfare and other remunerations, the body has maintained its differences with the Federal Government.
A recent case in point was the payment of half salaries to the ASUU members shortly after they suspended their strike. The development led to another round of disagreements between both stakeholders.
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