He mentioned that certain elders in the academic community were actively involved in efforts to reunite the two groups.

Fasina conveyed this message on Monday during the leadership retreat organized by the FUOYE’s Division of Student’s Affairs held in Ede, Osun State. The event was attended by student union leaders from the university.

He said that the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities should extract valuable lessons from the crises leading to the formation of the Congress of Nigerian University Academics. Fasina added that diplomacy, not confrontation, should have been the preferred 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.