The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has insisted that there is nothing on the ground now to warrant the calling off the ongoing strike by the Union.
The President of the Union, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi disclosed this in a telephone conversation with TNC correspondent, on Wednesday.
Ogunyemi revealed that the union is still meeting with the senate and will still meet with other stakeholders before any position will be reached.
According to him, the federal government is still yet to act on five of their earlier demands which include a request for better hostels for students among others.
“As at now, there is nothing on ground to warrant the suspension of the ongoing strike because about five demands we made have not been met. We talked about allowances they agreed to pay but they did not pay. We talked about visitation to Universities they agreed to do last year and they have not done and many others. Instead, the government has gone ahead to seize our members’ salaries for between three to nineteen months. So with all our demands still outstanding, there is no basis to stop the strike action,” the ASUU President said.
Commenting on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information, IPPIS, the ASUU boss said they have grown beyond that as the union has given the federal government another option to the policy as requested.
“We have gone beyond the debate about the IPPIS. Government asked us to develop an alternative when we came up with the scheme. We have come up with an alternative which is better than the IPPIS as it was developed by Nigerians and not external agents. We are not going to be joining any debate on IPPIS again. What we are telling them is that we have done what they asked us to do, so why are they not implementing it and instead are withholding our salaries?” he queried.
He accused the government of compounding the issues, regretting that they are causing more hardship on the students and their parents.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has declared that it may consider adopting the University Transparency Account System (UTAS), being presented by the Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU) as alternative emoluments payments platform to the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System ( IPPIS).
The Minister of Labour, Senator Chris Ngige made the declaration after about two and half hours of a closed-door meeting with the Senate and ASUU leadership on Tuesday.
The Labour Minister said the alternative platform presented by ASUU is homegrown and worth given thorough assessment test.
Also speaking after the meeting, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and Tetfund, Senator Ahmad Baba Kaita, explained that the interface had not ended but a stage of compromise is getting closer between the two parties.
