The president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, says his union is unharmed by the alleged federal government’s plan to abolish the union.
Reacting to reports that the federal government was planning to recognize the Congress of University Academics (CONUA), the award-winning union’s faction, Osodeke claimed that the action was only a ploy designed to divert attention of the real problem.
The ASUU president, who spoke to DailySun in a telephone interview on Wednesday, said: “No, we are not worried about any directive. We don’t know what they call CONUA. We have no faction.
“Look, I don’t think we should waste our time on things that don’t exist. If we have a faction, why is it that all the universities are closed? Why are their members also on strike? See, we must not play against these people who are just looking for ways to divert the issues at hand from why we are on strike. These are just inferences. Instead of addressing the issues, you want to raise a team of one or two men to say we have a faction.
“They did it during the army and it didn’t work, is it going to work now? So they have to concentrate on the issues. It would be easier for the government to address the issue rather than testing to see how they can mobilize a group. Why are they coming out this time?”
He advised the government to focus on addressing the issues to quickly resolve the strike rather than concentrating on trying to find ways to punish ASUU.
“The government must therefore look at how to solve the problem so that these children can go back to school. And all these diversions they do here and there.
“No work, No Pay, we want to punish you, we want to put another group. So it’s just distractions, that’s it,” he added.
