Dr Chris Ngige and Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi of ASUU
The striking members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities may call off their strike as the federal government met some of their demands on Friday, after months of negotiation.
In a communique read at the end of their meeting, the Federal Government agreed to remove ASUU members from the payment platform of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System(IPPIS).
This has been one major issue that has kept the lecturers from classes since March.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who read the communique said the government also agreed to ASUU’s demand to pay their members’ salary arrears from February till June.
This will be done through the old salary payment platform, Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System.
“We are also reviewing how the lecturers will be paid on the old platform until UTAS is ready for usage.
“We agreed also that the withheld salaries are the component of the issue of ‘no work, no pay’ that was invoked and the Minister of Education and myself are working on that to get approval for the lifting of the embargo.
“This is a transition period between the formalization of UTAS, and as soon as we finish this, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, the National Universities Commission and the Vice Chancellors are to work together to make sure that the withheld salaries are paid through the old platform, which the Accountant General’s office used in paying the salaries of university workers that were not captured on IPPIs for the months of February, March, April, May and June.”
Ngige said government also offered to raise the Earned Allowances to university staff from N30bn to N35bn and the revitalization fund from N20bn to N25bn.
