The Congress of University Academics has accused the national president of the Academic Union Of Universities, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, of fueling crises within the rank of academic unions in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife.
A statement signed by the CONUA chairman, Dr ‘Niyi Sunmonu, obtained in Osogbo on Wednesday, said the claim by Osodeke that CONUA produced a new form different from the one used in other federal universities in the country for computation of Earned Academic Allowance, was untrue.
The leadership of ASUU in OAU had declared an indefinite strike over unpaid Academic Earned Allowance, but members of CONUA have refused to join the industrial action.
Prof. Osodeke had reportedly claimed that CONUA OAU produced a new form different from the one used in other federal universities in the country, but Sunmonu while reacting to the claim insisted that it was the ASUU OAU branch that departed from the form designed by the national body of the Union, following the 2009 ASUU/Federal Government agreement.
The group further said ASUU had designed a Google form for its members and tried to force the form on CONUA members, but the move was resisted.
The statement read in part, “The fact is that it was ASUU OAU branch that departed outright from the form designed by their national body following the 2009 ASUU/Federal Government agreement. It did this by designing a Google form for its members. They tried to force this on CONUA members and this was resisted by CONUA.
“ASUU OAU has continued to insist that any academic staff who refuses to fill this Google form will not be paid his/her due of Earned Academic Allowance. That the president of ASUU could go to the press to say that it was CONUA that designed a new form shows a complete lack of integrity. We in CONUA are however not surprised about this because such things have become the trademark of Osodeke.
“For example, In 2016, when he led a committee of ASUU to OAU to investigate the crisis in the branch, Osodeke turned in a report that was completely against the fact on ground in OAU. His report actually ended up adding fire to the crisis on the ground. Osodeke in fact is a fundamental factor in the OAU crisis.
“To set the record straight, as soon as the current tranche of the EAA was released, ASUU OAU branch came out to state publicly to say that the money belonged only to its members and that those who are no members of the union would not benefit from it. The reason they gave for this is that the money represents their reward for going on strike. The fact is that Earned Academic Allowance which is money paid for excess work done by academic staff.
“To reiterate the point, Osodeke’s claim that CONUA invented a new form simply turns the truth on its head. The fact really is that it was CONUA that adopted the form that was developed for EAA following the 2009 agreement; and it was ASUU OAU that set aside the correct form and went ahead to design a Google form. The form that CONUA used to compute its EAA is the one used in other federal universities including FUTA, University of Ibadan and Federal University, Lokoja. ASUU should develop the courage to stand by what it has done, and to tell the public why it went ahead to develop a google form in place of the authentic EAA form.”
CONUA then advised ASUU to clear its name from the discrepancies in the claims that were presented to the University administration by its branch in OAU.
