ASUU strike continues after inconclusive meeting with FG

 

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is set to continue its prolonged strike after it failed to reach an agreement with the Federal Government.

Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, said this while addressing newsmen at the end of a closed-door conciliation meeting between FG representatives and ASUU on Wednesday in Abuja.

“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 revitalisation 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 said.

He, however, said that the cardinal issue was the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) versus the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

The minister noted that ASUU wanted an exemption from IPPIS, but the government side headed by the Accountant General of the Federation said that IPPIS is the only government-approved payment platform.

Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU President said that the union would wait for the Federal Government to meet on Friday and get back to the union by next week.