FG still withholding salaries of our members ― ASUU

Just as the Federal Government has ordered the reopening of schools nationwide including universities and other tertiary, members of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Friday insisted that no lecturer will return to the classroom until the demands of the Union are addressed by the government.

ASUU President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi also disclosed that the federal government is still withholding the salaries of lecturers as a result of refusal to enrol on the Federal Government’s Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which the union continue to argue that it could take care of the peculiarities of the university system.

Biodun while reacting to the order of reopening schools by the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu on Friday, said the government was not sincere in its dialogue with ASUU and effort to address the issues in contention.

He said: “In the first place, ASUU did not close the universities, the government closed the universities. So, they have the right to say they are reopening their universities. But on the other hand, to us, the government has not been sincere,” he said.

Except urgent steps are taken to resolve the lingering crisis, students attending public universities in Nigeria would have to stay at home longer as ASUU has revealed that no meaning dialogue is ongoing to resolve the impasse.

Biodun said the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige told Nigerians that government has been paying the salaries of ASUU members and “I want to confirm to you that it is not correct”.

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The ASUU President said: “As we speak, some of our members have not received salaries since February of this year. Some received from February and March immediately following the order of Mr President, while some others received up to June. In other words, our members are being owed salaries from three months to eight months.

“if you have that matter on the table and somebody is saying well, lecturers should go back to work. I think somebody is deceiving somebody. We have placed some demands on the table which government has not meaningfully responded to, five issues,” he said.

Some of these issues according to the ASUU President, are the renegotiation of 2009 Agreement where the salaries of lecturers have remained same since 2009, revitalisation fund that could have gone into addressing the gaps in the university system, Visitation panel, proliferation of universities by state governors, and Earned Academic Allowance.

On Earned Academic Allowance, Biodun said this was negotiated and the government had agreed to pay since November last year, which the first tranche was released in 2019 and about a year after no kobo has been released in that respect.

“When you talk about five areas of demand that we placed before government which have not been meaningfully addressed, it means that government doesn’t appear to take us seriously and that is what I believe my members are not going to accept. You distorted the salaries lecturers because of IPPIS and owe them salaries for eight months and you want them to go back to classes, that cannot happen,” he said.

He recalled that agreement was signed in 2015 on all the five items that have not been addressed, saying the Union members would not back down until the issues are addressed.

He disclosed that ASUU wrote to the government for reopening of talks in August this year after discussion broke down following the breakout of COVID-19 pandemic and that in response government said they were considering the letter.  He said the gap in communication has compounded the situation.

Abiodun condemned the punishment and hardship being unleashed on ASUU members by withholding their salaries, insisting that the strike could not be called off under such condition.

He said the last time ASUU met with the government was for the presentation of the alternative platform to IPPIS, which is the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) to the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, clarifying that the meeting was not for negotiation.

He noted that UTAS was well received by the Minister of Education but the Ministry of Finance, especially the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, has been reluctant to implement it, “because those profiting from IPPIS will not want to implement it”.

He maintained the position of the Union that IPPIS could not address the peculiarity of universities which UTAS was designed as an alternative to address.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE