Withholding CONUA members’ salaries over ASUU strike wrong – President

The Congress of University Academics has called on the Federal Government to pay outstanding salaries, promotion arrears, and other benefits owed to its members.

The union made the call in a communiqué issued on Sunday at the end of its second National Executive Council held in Benin.

The communique read by the President of the union, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, expressed concern over the members’ unpaid three and a half months salaries.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that the Academic Staff Union of Universities in February 2022, declared an industrial action that lasted for about eight months to press for proper funding of university education, among others.

Consequently, the Federal Government invoked a “no work no pay rule,” by withholding seven and a half month salaries of all academic staff in the Nigerian universities.

ASUU, however, challenged the decision, but failed, as the National Industrial Court in 2023 upheld the policy of the government.

President Bola Tinubu, after dialogue, approved the payment of four-month salaries for ASUU members.

But CONUA, in its resolutions at the NEC meeting, said the union had consistently maintained that it never declared and was not part of the strike action.

It said the continued withholding of the three and a half months salary of its members was rather unfair because it never believed in industrial action as the best tool to enforce their wishes and welfare.

“What the government has done was to lump together those who embarked on strike and those who did not! This is unjust and is tantamount to punishing the innocent along with the guilty.

“Through its unwarranted punishment of CONUA members, the government is inadvertently promoting the use of strikes as a means of pursuing workers’ demands.

“CONUA NEC, therefore, notes with apprehension that failure to process and pay these outstanding salaries could throw the universities into serious crises and jeopardise the peace currently being enjoyed.”

CONUA also demanded the release of third-party deductions for March, April, May, and June 2022 salaries, which it said, were withheld due to the strike action.

“We demand that the agencies of government involved be directed immediately to release these third-party remittances without further delay,” said the communique.

The union called for the payment of promotion arrears spanning up to seven years in some cases, particularly in many state universities.

“This dispiriting state of affairs should be addressed expeditiously to enhance the diligence of the many academics affected by the counter-productive delay in the payment of promotion arrears,” it said.

Other demands by CONUA include the payment of Earned Academic Allowance arrears, review of the 2014 Pension Act, and an end to discrimination by TETFUND as a union.

It also called on the Federal Government to work with the relevant departments in the university to generate electricity and grant special status to universities on electricity tariffs.

On the state of the nation, the congress expressed deep concern over the excruciating pains Nigerians have been going through since the removal of the fuel subsidy on May 29, 2023.

“The union notes that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has assured the nation that a series of measures are being put in place to alleviate the suffering of the people.

“We urge the President to expedite action on those measures,” union said.