The Congress of Nigerian University Academics, a breakaway faction of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, has said that the agreement that ASUU wants the Federal Government to enforce was reached under duress.
CONUA’s National Coordinator, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, said it was the reason government could not implement it.
According to him, ASUU’s strike tradition is counter-productive, adding that it was not sustainable.
Speaking on Arise TV, he said the use of strike action to press home demands in the country had been on for well over 40 years, saying, “in that period of 40 years, we’ve had different kinds of governments, the military dictators, the democracy that we all enjoy; we’ve had one response and that response is put pen to paper on agreement and renege on the agreement later.
“We are of the opinion that these agreements, to us, are actually done under duress; where you have the situation in which the other party which is the government that you’re actually discussing with, comes to a meeting with a relaxed mind that once they have an agreement that is workable; when they put pen to paper to sign, they would honour that.”
Sunmonu noted that even in situations of outright wars, “issues are resolved at the table; why can’t we devote more time to that so as to avoid casualties? In this case, casualties are parents and students.”
“We want to deploy all our faculties, all our networks to the area of discussions at the table that will lead to a win-win situation; discussions that will lead to an agreement that the other side will not feel it’s being compelled to do,” he said.
