The Federal government met with the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU on Thursday as part of efforts geared towards reopening universities which have been closed for months.
The varsity lecturers had embarked on strike in March over unpaid allowances amounting to 40 billion naira and government’s insistence that they should enroll on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Yesterday’s meeting made significant headway as both parties agreed that the Federal Government would release N30 billion which is a part payment of the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) to ASUU.
They also agreed that the remaining #10 billion will be paid in two tranches on May 2021 and February 2022 respectively.
Why The Meeting Ended Inconclusive
The Federal Government said it was considering ASUU’s preferred payroll system – known as University Transparency Account System (UTAS) – and will carry out integrity test of the platform.
Thus, the government appealed to that the varsity lecturers should enroll on IPPIS to receive payment before transitioning to UTAS whenever the system has been certified digitally efficient and effective with accompanying security coverage.
However, ASUU disagreed, stressing that they had already invented UTAS and should be exempted from receiving payments via IPPIS during the transition period.
The meeting was adjourned to the 21st of October 2020.
