The Academic Staff Union of Universities has threatened to
resume the industrial action it suspended since December 2020 over the Federal
Government’s alleged failure to honour many of the agreements it signed with
the Union.
The Chairperson, ASUU, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University,
Bauchi, Dr. Ibrahim Inuwa, stated this while speaking with select journalists
at the Union’s Secretariat.
He said the protracted strike, which was to press home their
demands for the continuous survival of public university system in Nigeria, was
suspended in December after the two parties signed a Memorandum of
Understanding on the various issues providing timelines for the implementation
of each of the eight items.
Inuwa, who said that over seven months after the MoU was
signed, only two out of the eight issues have been addressed, listed some of
the issues to include Earned Academic Allowance, Funding for revitalisation of
public universities, Salary shortfall, Proliferation of state universities and
Visitation Panel.
Others, he added, are Renegotiation, Replacement of the
Integrated payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) with the University
Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) and withheld salaries and
non-remittance of Check-off Dues but “only salary shortfall and visitation
panels to federal universities have been addressed.”
He said, “Renegotiation of the 2009 agreement which would
have been completed within eight weeks from the date of inauguration of the
committee has up till now not been concluded, even though the Committee was
inaugurated since December 2020.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria willingly agreed that the
UTAS will replace the IPPIS as a payment platform in Federal Universities after
it passed an integrity test. However, soon after the agreement, agents of the
FGN are doing everything possible to frustrate the coming of UTAS onboard.
“Meanwhile the Office of the Accountant General of the
Federation through the IPPIS office have continued to omit our members from
payment of salaries while others experience serious salary amputation. We are
convinced this is done in connivance with the University Administration through
the distortion of our members’ personal details.
“In the meantime, IPPIS appears to be the corruption
headquarters of the Federal Civil service, as exemplified by double payment of
salaries to employees, payment of salaries to non-employees, over taxation,
dubious amputation of salaries, etc.”
Inuwa stated that the body language of the federal
government on the proliferation of State Universities shows that they are not
willing to put a stop to it stressing that instead, the federal government
itself has joined in the Proliferation of Universities ignoring the obvious
challenges of funding.
He further stated that it is obvious to the Union that the
OAGF is deliberately omitting its members from payment of Salaries and
withholding check off dues as a ploy for victimization and coercion to enroll
ASUU members into IPPIs.
“This plague,” he said, “has been evident across all Federal
Universities in Nigeria since February, 2020. This to us is an outright act of
ingratitude on the part of the Government for the sacrifices members of ASUU
are making in order to establish a progressive nation. A clear case of
punishing citizens for being patriotic.”
Inuwa declared that “Enough is enough. ASUU is fed up with
deceptive antics of the federal government of Nigeria.
“The University Campuses are becoming restive across the
length and breadth as Academics are threatening to shut down activities once
again. This is coming as a result of the failure of the FGN to implement many
aspects of the memorandum of Action it willingly signed with ASUU that ended
the last strike in December, 2020.
“Given the glaring and deliberate failure of Government to
honour the agreement it willingly signed with the Union, it is becoming obvious
that industrial harmony is gradually being destroyed in the University
Campuses.
“We, therefore, call on well-meaning Nigerians to wake up
the FGN from its slumber to avoid another disruption of academic activities on
Universities Campuses across the nation” adding that “the atmosphere is tensed
and charged.”
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com