VC Says ASUU, CONUA Reconciliation On-going

The Vice-Chancellor, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Prof. Abayomi Fasina, has said those rejoicing over the division in the rank of academic staff members of universities in the country would soon be disappointed.

He said some elders in the academic community were already working on uniting the two groups.

Fasina spoke on Monday at the leadership retreat organised by the FUOYE’s division of Student’s Affairs held in Ede, Osun State, which had in attendance student union leaders from the university.

According to him, the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities must have picked valuable lessons in the crises that led to the formation of Congress of Nigerian University Academics, adding that diplomacy rather than confrontation should have been the approach.

He said, “I know that ASUU has also learnt from this (division). We must be diplomatic and not be too rigid in our approach. The lesson is that we don’t need to be rigid. Listen to other people’s opinions, don’t be confrontational because other people are also looking.

“As a family, we don’t need to destroy ourselves. A situation whereby because somebody did not listen to your opinion, you want to fight that person, you don’t need to do that.

“As a family, you must be united. Once you are united, nobody will come in to destroy you. But I can assure you, this matter of ASUU and CONUA will come back. It is a matter of time. I know some people are happy that ASUU has been split into two, but they should not rejoice too long. By God’s grace, the elders are working to see how they can bring the two together.”

On his plans for the students and staffers of the university, Fasina said efforts were already in place to introduce workers to Artificial Intelligence, while the university would also be interested in giving jobs to brilliant fresh graduates and providing further training for them to add to their value.