ASUU Strike: Minister of Labour provides an update on the FG-ASUU negotiation
Dr Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, has provided an update on the continuing negotiations between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). He provided the information while addressing to State House media following a meeting with President Barack Obama, according to his office.
The President, he explained, had authorized him to find a swift solution to the strike after consulting with all stakeholders, including the National Inter-Religious Council (NIREC).
He stated that a meeting with ASUU has taken place, with another scheduled for Tuesday. He also stated that the only two areas where difficulties have not been thoroughly investigated are earned allowances and revitalization, but that timeframes have been established for the majority of the other issues.
He stated that a deadline had been set for the completion of the draft proposal that the union had submitted to the Ministry of Education on their working conditions and salaries.
Upon submission of the report by the relevant committee, which is chaired by the chair of pro-chancellors, the minister stated that it will be reviewed in conjunction with the National Salaries and Wages Commission to ensure that the allowances so proposed do not conflict with existing government policies.
The Federal Government, according to Ngige, has so far paid over N92 billion in earned allowances and revitalization fees to federally owned colleges across the nation. As part of the implementation of the December 2020 deal signed with the ASUU, he stated that this will take place.
The Minister stated that the issue of the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution payment platform, which is chosen by the ASUU over the government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, will be reconsidered.
In their report to ASUU, they pointed out the areas of lapses in that platform, which will not make it usable as it is currently configured,” they said. “UTAS, which the universities developed, has been subjected to testing by the body responsible for that, Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), which ran a user acceptance test, also known as integrity and vulnerability test.”
“However, ASUU has written back to NITDA to point out that some of their findings were incorrect,” he explained further.
It has now been agreed upon that the technical teams from NITDA and ASUU would meet in order to jointly conduct or rerun the test on the UTAS platform, in order to find a way out of the deadlock, according to Ngige.
