The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has dismissed the insinuation that the Federal Government is not interested in enhancing the remuneration of university lecturers, saying that the government is not opposed to it.
He assured that the government is disposed to comparing what they earn with their counterparts elsewhere and make compensatory increments if necessary.
Ngige spoke to correspondents at the presidential villa, Abuja after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on the status of the current engagement with the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) over the lecturers’ ongoing month-long warning strike.
Ngige recalled that the President after consultation with some stakeholders including the National Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), had mandated him to find a quick solution to the strike, which had since caused him to begin engagement with the union.
He said a meeting had been held with ASUU with another one planned for Tuesday, noting that the two areas that have not had issues properly analyzed are earned allowances and revitalisation, “otherwise, we have put timelines on most of the other things.”
He said a timeline had been given for the draft proposal the union has at the ministry of education for their conditions of service and wages to be concluded.
The minister stated: “Yes, our university lecturers here deserve good pay. A worker is due his wages. So, if we compare with what obtains in other climes and they are not adequately remunerated, there is nothing that stops government within the lean resources we have to do some compensation raise and make them happy.
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“So, we are not opposed to that but there is a process like I explained to them.”
Ngige said when the relevant committee headed by the chair of pro-chancellors submits its report, it will be looked at in conjunction with the National Salaries and Wages Commission to make sure that the allowances so proposed do not run counter to government extant fixtures.
He said President Buhari was satisfied with his brief, stressing that the “2020 December agreement with ASUU is on course in terms of implementation.”
The minister added that N40 billion for earned allowances has been paid just as N30 billion for revitalisation as well as the sum of N22.7 billion paid from the supplementary budget as also earned allowances for 2021.
On the most contentious of issues regarding the decision to use either the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) or the University Transparency Accountability Solutions (UTAS), he said the committee saddled with the responsibility had been given four weeks to provide feedback.
According to him, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) ran user acceptance test, integrity and vulnerability tests on UTAS and concluded that it did not meet the requirements after pointing out areas of lapses, but ASUU has rejected it as incorrect.
He said a joint technical team will meet to do the tests again for confirmation of the initial findings and necessary solutions.
“Again, we gave the committee four weeks to report back to us. So, you can see we are making progress,” the minister declared.
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