ASUU Threatens Fresh Strike, Gives FG Tuesday Ultimatum

THE Academic Staff Union of Universities has expressed its
readiness to embark on another round of industrial action following
what it called the failure of the Federal Government to implement
an agreement signed with the union.

The union is giving the government till month-end (Tuesday) to
reach out or it will activate the procedure of embarking on
strike.

The union’s President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, who disclosed
this in an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday, added that the FG no
longer picked its calls.

Recall that in March 2020, ASUU embarked on a strike following
its disagreement with the FG over the funding of the universities
and the ineffectiveness and discrepancies around the Integrated
Payroll and Personnel Information System and others.

ASUU, however, developed the University Transparency and
Accountability Solution to replace IPPIS and had several meetings
with the Ministries of Finance, Education, Labour and Employment,
and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation before
it was approved but yet to be implemented.

Likewise, the FG and ASUU signed an agreement aimed at resolving
some of the demands of ASUU, a development that led to the
suspension of the strike on December 24, 2020.

In addition, after a meeting with the FG on August 2, 2021,
Osodeke said the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency
insisted that UTAS must be re-presented to the end users.

Also, at the meeting, Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris
Ngige, assured ASUU that the N22bn earned allowance captured in the
2021 supplementary budget would soon be accessed by university
workers.

On the contrary, Osodeke told one of our correspondents on
Sunday that the FG had stopped reaching out to ASUU and had failed
to implement the agreement reached.

Due to government’s silence over their demands, Osodeke said the
union would not hesitate to embark on a fresh strike to protest
government’s failure.

He said, “The government has refused to reach out to us.
Government officials have stopped. In fact, they don’t take our
calls again. Nigerians should tell the government to do what they
agreed to do.

“We signed an agreement and even in May, we reached a final
agreement; this is August and nothing has been implemented. Does it
make any sense? We are giving them till the end of August and after
that, we start the procedures.”

THE Academic Staff Union of Universities has expressed its
readiness to embark on another round of industrial action following
what it called the failure of the Federal Government to implement
an agreement signed with the union.

The union is giving the government till month-end (Tuesday) to
reach out or it will activate the procedure of embarking on
strike.

The union’s President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, who disclosed
this in an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday, added that the FG no
longer picked its calls.

Recall that in March 2020, ASUU embarked on a strike following
its disagreement with the FG over the funding of the universities
and the ineffectiveness and discrepancies around the Integrated
Payroll and Personnel Information System and others.

ASUU, however, developed the University Transparency and
Accountability Solution to replace IPPIS and had several meetings
with the Ministries of Finance, Education, Labour and Employment,
and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation before
it was approved but yet to be implemented.

Likewise, the FG and ASUU signed an agreement aimed at resolving
some of the demands of ASUU, a development that led to the
suspension of the strike on December 24, 2020.

In addition, after a meeting with the FG on August 2, 2021,
Osodeke said the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency
insisted that UTAS must be re-presented to the end users.

Also, at the meeting, Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris
Ngige, assured ASUU that the N22bn earned allowance captured in the
2021 supplementary budget would soon be accessed by university
workers.

On the contrary, Osodeke told one of our correspondents on
Sunday that the FG had stopped reaching out to ASUU and had failed
to implement the agreement reached.

Due to government’s silence over their demands, Osodeke said the
union would not hesitate to embark on a fresh strike to protest
government’s failure.

He said, “The government has refused to reach out to us.
Government officials have stopped. In fact, they don’t take our
calls again. Nigerians should tell the government to do what they
agreed to do.

“We signed an agreement and even in May, we reached a final
agreement; this is August and nothing has been implemented. Does it
make any sense? We are giving them till the end of August and after
that, we start the procedures.”