Again ASUU, FG Fail to Agree as Strike Enters 7th Month

The Academic Staff Union for University (ASUU) strike which started on the 23^rd of March, 2020, has entered the seventh month as the FG and ASUU remained at log heads and fails to reach agreement.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, disclosed this after a closed-door meeting held between the Federal Government and ASUU on Wednesday in Abuja.

Addressing the media, he said “There are three issues and these include the revitalisation fund where government offered ASUU N20 billion, on good faith based on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) entered into in 2013 as a result of the renegotiation with the then government in 2009.

“This present government is still committed to it, while we are giving them offers of some fund.

“This government is not against revitalization but this government says that because of the dare economic situation due to COV1D-19, we cannot really pay in the N110 billion which they are demanding for revitalisation.

“We offered N20 billion as revitalization fund. On Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), the government offered N30 billion to all the unions in the universities, making it N50 billion all together.

“ASUU is saying that the N30 billion should be for lecturers alone, irrespective of the fact that there are three other unions. So there is a little problem there. We do not have any money to offer apart from this N30 billion,” he explained.

However, Sen. Ngige said the major issue was the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) versus the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS). He said explained that ASUU had submitted its document on UTAS to National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

“As you know last week, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy had approved that NITDA gets ASUU system (UTAS) and subject it to integrity test.

“This test should be conducted without fear or favour and as early as possible. So today, they have submitted the document for onward transmission to NITDA.

“One other issue that has arisen is the issue of the transition period. How do ASUU get the Earned Academic Allowances that is due to them and any other entitlement that government wants to pay them,” he further added.

Another bone of contention noted by Sen. Ngige was the fact that ASUU wanted an exemption from the IPPIS which is the only government approved payment platform and it’s headed by the Accountant General of the Federation,

“So that is where we are for now. So we are all going back to our principals and they will receive via me the irreducible minimum of what the Federal Government has to offer. “The government side will meet on Friday and after that, they will communicate to ASUU and in communicating them, if there is a need for a meeting, a date will be fixed for it,” he stated.

ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi said that the union would wait till Friday for the scheduled meeting with Federal Government and report to the union by next week.