ASUU Says FG Has Agreed To Implement UTAS To Be Finalized On Tuesday
ASUU Says FG Has Agreed To Implement UTAS To Be Finalized On Tuesday
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has intimated that the Federal Government may have finally adopted its University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as the platform to be used for the payment of university lecturers’ wages.
This is because the union has stated that a meeting with federal government representatives over its protracted strike is scheduled for Tuesday.
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The Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS), which is being used, was rejected by the lecturers union, making the salary payment platform one of the main points of contention between ASUU and the Federal Government.
On Monday night, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, the president of ASUU, revealed this while appearing on the Channels Television program Politics Today. He stated that one of the seven topics that ASUU is protesting will be covered in the meeting.
ASUU Says FG Has Agreed To Implement UTAS To Be Finalized On Tuesday
Osodeke said that the strike is not just about their salaries, but has to do with the system, funding, structure, autonomy, and other issues concerning university administration.
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What the ASUU President is saying
Osodeke during the interview said, “That is the issue of renegotiation, the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.
“It is not just about wages. It has to do with the system, funding, the structure, the autonomy and other issues; and how to fund universities.
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“The government has reduced it to just salaries alone. But if they had looked at the whole agreement and implemented it, we will not be talking about funding.”
Professor Osodeke suggested that if Tuesday’s meeting goes well, the strike action may be called off.
He said, “We are willing to sign.’’
FG agrees to implement UTAS
On what must be done to get the education sector back on its feet, the ASUU President said, ‘’The issues of IPPIS and UTAS has been put to rest because the test has been done and as has been agreed with the Chief of Staff, UTAS will be implemented to cover the university. Two, if this government is serious, this strike will not last more than two weeks. You recall we were going to go on strike in November, we didn’t start it.
‘’They met with the president, he set up a committee headed by the Chief of Staff that should resolve this quickly, the world saw it in the press, they did nothing. The president set up the Munzali committee, we met them finish, nothing, they didn’t come back. They set up the Nimi Briggs committee, it’s now more than three months, two months we finished negotiating with them, they didn’t come back.
ASUU Says FG Has Agreed To Implement UTAS To Be Finalized On Tuesday
‘’The president directed the Ministry of Education to finish within two weeks, two weeks has passed, they didn’t come back.’’
What you should know
- ASUU had on February 14, 2022, embarked on a 4-week total and comprehensive strike to press home their unresolved demands on the federal government.
- Some of the lecturers’ demands include funding for the revitalisation of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances, and adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a preferred payment option, instead of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and payment of promotion arrears.
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- Others are the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement and the resolution of inconsistencies in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS)
- ASUU on May 9, further extended its ongoing strike by another 12 weeks to give the government enough time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues after an extension on March 14 due to an alleged lack of seriousness on the part of the federal government.
- The Federal Government’s Briggs renegotiation committee, had since April 2022, been meeting with ASUU and other labour unions in the universities, who are all currently on strike due to its dispute with the government and non-resolution of demands of the 2009 agreements signed with the federal government.
- The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had on July 26 and 27, embarked on a 2-day nationwide protest in solidarity with the ongoing strike action by ASUU aimed at pressurizing the Federal Government to conclude negotiations with striking universities unions and ensure that public universities resume for normal activities, among others.
ASUU Says FG Has Agreed To Implement UTAS To Be Finalized On Tuesday
- Also, President Muhammadu Buhari had on July 19 directed the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, to proffer a solution to the challenge and report back to him in 2 weeks. The president’s ultimatum had since elapsed without any resolution yet.
- However, ASUU remained adamant in its resolve to press on with its demand as it once again on August 1 extended its ongoing strike by another 4 weeks to give the Federal Government more time to resolve outstanding issues in its dispute with it
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