“It shows the act of ignorance and quality of people managing this country. How can somebody say a union that was established and registered in 1972 and has been operating in Nigeria during the civilian, military and with a Return Certificate signed by the Registrar of Trade Union Act saying the union is not recognised?
That is the highly charged and battle ready Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) exploding on Folashade Mejabi Yemi-Esan, the incumbent Head of Civil Service of the Federation. The Head of Civil Service had said recently that the union and another activist one, the Nigerian Medical Association, (NMA) are unknown to the law.
It is in reacting to this that ASUU President, Prof Victor Emmanuel Osodeke, describes the statement as a manifestation of ignorance in a strength of language that warrants the above quote.
With a history of ASUU hardly ever losing a war between it and hitherto powerful government officials, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation could be in trouble. In all cases, this can only suggest a widening of the chasm between the union and the Government in a relationship that has hardly ever been cordial, historically.
Beyond that, it shows how fragmented the polity has become, with everyone as a combatant and nearly no one left to play the honest brokers in search for the common ground.
