Professor Abiodun Ogunyemi, speaks during his appearance on Sunrise
Daily on November 9, 2020.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has
accused the Federal Government of manipulation as both parties fail
to reach a compromise over the lingering industrial action by the
lecturers.
ASUU National President, Professor Abiodun Ogunyemi, who was a
guest on Sunrise Daily on Monday also blamed the
government for the inability of union members to return to class
since March.
While both parties are at loggerheads over the Integrated
Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), he insisted that
the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) was
the way to go for the lecturers.
Professor Ogunyemi noted that while progress was being made, the
government has insisted that there was a transition period within
which ASUU members would first be captured in the IPPIS before
migrating to UTAS.
Game Of Deception?
He, however, accused the government of playing a game of
deception, saying it has failed to show commitment to resolving the
impasse.
“What we need is a commitment; there is nothing like transition
and what we are saying, in essence, is that government should just
go ahead and pay what government has withheld – the salaries of our
members; people have not been paid for eight or nine months on
account of not registering on IPPIS,” the ASUU president said on
the Channels Television breakfast show.
He added, “Government should stop this arm-twisting and
manipulation, going back to universities to ask them to go and
enroll in IPPIS so that they will go and migrate to UTAS; people
see it as a game of deception and we cannot trust them.”
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According to Professor Ogunyemi, it is not the place of the
union to tell the government where to get the fund to address its
challenges.
He stressed the need for the government to show more commitment
to the ongoing negotiations in order to ensure lecturers and
students return to the classroom.
The ASUU president also highlighted some of the vital roles the
union has played in ensuring public universities do not become a
history in the country.
He stated that if not for the union’s effort, the fate of public
universities in Nigeria would have been just like that of the
primary and secondary schools.
“Each time people talk about this problem has been there for
long, they don’t also appreciate the solution we have brought to
the system to keep the system going.
“But for ASUU’s intervention, we would no longer have public
universities today. Do we still have public primary schools? Do we
still have public secondary schools? That is what will happen to
public universities,” Professor Ogunyemi said.
The government, on its part, has since insisted that it was
working hard to ensure the students return to class and address the
various challenges in the nation’s education sector.