The National Coordinator, Congress of Nigerian Universities Academics (CONUA), Niyi Sunmonu, has said that the members of the newly registered union are not on strike and will teach students if they are back to class.
The federal government had on Tuesday formally registered two new university unions, the CONUA and National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA).
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has been on strike since February, with several efforts to get the lecturers back to the classroom being deadlocked.
In an interview on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily, Niyi Sunmonu said CONUA members don’t believe in strike.
He said, “CONUA as an organization has not been on strike; there has been no time strike was declared. Well ASUU is an independent union and what it does has no bearing over other unions just like two different human beings. We have not been on strike and we are not on strike.
“We stopped teaching when students were asked to vacate campuses. We hope university will open and we can go back to teaching. The formation of CONUA is not on the basis of strike action declared by our sister union (ASUU). We have not been on strike, we are ready work if students are back on campuses.”
Sunmonu also said that so far the union has 17 branches.