CONUA registration is illegal
Femi Falana, a human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate for Nigeria (SAN), has called the registration of the Congress of Nigerian Academic Scholars (CONUA) by the federal government illegal.
Falana, in an interview on Arise TV, said the registration is a desperate attempt to end the strike, even though labor laws in Nigeria do not allow registration of more than one union in a sector. .
“When the request [CONUA] was submitted, the Ministry of Labor sought legal advice and the Ministry was advised that under the current labor law regime in Nigeria, you cannot have two unions or three unions in the same sector.
“In other words, within Nigerian academia, there can be only one registered union, namely ASUU, registered under the Trade Unions Act, as amended.
“What happened was a desperate measure to break the strike. The government has tried various measures, but the latest one may embarrass the government because it is an illegal exercise that will not work. The ASUU is today one of the most organized and united trade unions in Africa.
“Registration of a splinter group or a few of them will in no way dismember ASUU or disorganize ASUU. Once the federal government realizes this in the next few days, I think that the government will once again have to stop chasing after the shadows.
“We are going to have a proliferation of trade unions, which threatens social peace in the country. We cannot have two unions at the university; nor can we have two unions in other unions in the country. Politically, it will not work.
