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Tag: Emmanuel Osodeke

  • ASUU President, Osodeke speaks on calling off strike

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has hinted at ending the industrial action embarked upon five months ago.

    ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, mention this while granting an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday night.

    He noted that ASUU will end the five-month-old strike if the federal government addresses the situations tabled before it.

    Osodeke claimed an agreement had been reached with the government, but it has not been signed.

    According to him, ASUU’s insistence on using their own generated payment platform, University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS), is a key demand.

    “As far as ASUU is concerned, the strike can end tomorrow.

    “We have finished the negotiation. If the government calls us now to come and sign the agreement, we will be there tomorrow.

    “Let the government tell us they have finished testing the UTAS and we have accepted it, then we will call off the strike.

    “When will they sign the agreement? When will they accept UTAS? Those are the two questions we should ask the Nigerian government,” Osodeke said.

  • Strike: We’re not beggars, hunger won’t force us to resume – ASUU tells FG

    Strike: We’re not beggars, hunger won’t force us to resume – ASUU tells FG

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said its members are not beggars and the stoppage of their salaries by the government won’t force them to call off their strike.

    The leadership of the union also commended the members for keeping faith with the union despite the hardship imposed on their families as a result of the No-Work-No-Pay.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports ASUU on 14th February 2022 announced a one-month warning strike, followed by another eight-week strike before it eventually commenced its indefinite strike.

    This followed the failure of the government to meet some lingering demands of the union.

    The continued strike led to the imposition of No-Work-No-Pay by the Federal Government.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, said the directive was in compliance with Section 43 of the Labour Law.

    Though some of the demands by the union are still undergoing negotiations, ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, expressed optimism that the union was on the threshold of victory.

    He however noted that the resolve of the union forced the FG to engage in negotiations.

    He said, “As the struggle continues, our members are commended for their commitment and steadfastness in the patriotic struggle for the survival of the university system in our country.

    “Our members are particularly applauded for keeping faith with the union in spite of the hardship imposed on our families as a result of the stoppage of salaries.

    “They have made the statement loud and clear that we are not beggars and, as a result, hunger is an impotent instrument to break our resolve.

    “Our cast-iron resolve has forced the government to sit down and negotiate with us. We have had five meetings with the Federal Government team and two meetings with the Minister of Education.

    “The renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement is progressing smoothly and has reached an advanced stage. “However, we must remain focused to the end of this struggle. UTAS (University Transparency and Accountability Solution) has been tested for the third time.

    “So far, NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency) has tested UTAS and UPS and will start testing IPPIS next week. We are undeterred by the antics of some government officials in this respect”.

  • Why we withdrew from participating in elections in Nigeria- ASUU

    Why we withdrew from participating in elections in Nigeria- ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities has explained why it withdrew from participating in elections in Nigeria.

     

    The Union said its members going to participate in the 2023 elections would be doing so on their own.

     

    ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said in an interview said the Union withdrew from participating in elections in Nigeria because the system was flawed.

     

    The organisation said it had requested that it should be allowed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to participate in all the segments of the election, from the polling unit, collation and announcement for which government refused.

     

    He said, “ASUU participated in election during the period of Prof. Attahiru Jega and since then, we have decided we are not participating as a union in any election process because it is fraudulent.

     

    “We requested that they should allow us participate in all the segments of the election, from the polling booth, to the collation to announcement. But they refused and so we withdrew from it as a union.

     

    “And in the last (2019) election, we were very clear; we announced openly that we are not participating in 2019 election that any of our member who is going, is going as a person, not as an ASUU member which they are entitled to.

     

    “So (in 2023), we are not going to tell our members anything. Anyone who wants to go is doing so on his own. When you are going, don’t wear anything that has ASUU signal, either its name or anything. You are going as a person; you are not going because you are a member of ASUU.

     

    “During Jega era, he asked us to nominate, which we did. Although at the upper collation level, we were able to control it, at the polling booth where they do the rigging, we were not allowed access to it, so we left.”

     

    Osodeke asserted that the Vice Chancellors who took part as Returning Officers in elections have no influence but to announce results which have allegedly been written.

  • Strike: ASUU cautions NITDA against jeopardizing efforts on UTAS

    Strike: ASUU cautions NITDA against jeopardizing efforts on UTAS

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has cautioned the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to stop making comments capable of jeopardizing efforts so far made on the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for the payment of university lecturers in the country.

    President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke gave the caution in a statement on Sunday as the union met to determine its position on the one month warning strike it embarked on since February 14th and which elapses on Monday.

    According to Osodeke, the NITDA misled the public when its Director General, Kashifu Inuwa and the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami recently told the public that the UTAS failed an integrity test.

    The ASUU President stressed in the statement that on the contrary, there are evidence that the UTAS at the end of the test all, without exception, expressed satisfaction with the payment platform as a suitable solution for salary payment in Nigerian universities.

    The statement reads: “The one-month roll-over strike declared by our Union on 14th February, 2022, has entered the fourth week.

    “During this period, we have been having engagements with the government over the contending issues that necessitated the action. One of the contending issues is the deployment of University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) which is a robust software created by ASUU Technical group to manage personnel and payroll in the university system.

    “The Federal Government had referred UTAS to NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency) to conduct User Acceptance Test (UAT) and Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Test (VAPT) prior to the final deployment. The process, which commenced on Thursday, 3rd March, 2022, is still on-going.

    “This press statement is necessitated by the need for ASUU to put the records straight on the grounds already covered in our patriotic struggle to get the government to deploy UTAS as a suitable solution for salary payment in our university system.

    “Of particular concern to us is the statement credited to both the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy and Director General, NITDA to the effect that UTAS has failed the integrity test.

    “Let us put it on record that an integrity test was carried out by NITDA on 10th August, 2021 in NUC where relevant government agencies and all the end-users in the University system were present.

    “At the end of the exercise, all, without exception, expressed satisfaction with UTAS as a suitable solution for salary payment in our universities. This was attested to by the report coming from NITDA then to the effect that UTAS scored 85% in User Acceptance Test (UAT).

    “However, in a curious twist of submission, the NITDA Technical Team, after conducting a comprehensive functionality test came out to say that out of 687 test cases, 529 cases were satisfactory, 156 cases queried, and 2 cases were cautioned.

    “Taking this report on its face value, the percentage score is 77%. The question that arises from this is can 77% in any known fair evaluation system be categorized as failure? Suffice it to say here that some observations and questions were raised by NITDA to which UTAS technical team has to provide clarification.

    “As we speak, our engagement with NITDA over the second round of testing continues. The Union is worried that while this exercise is going on, the Minister and the DG, NITDA went to press after FEC meeting of Wednesday, 9th March, 2022, to mislead the nation that UTAS has failed the integrity test.

    “We wish to draw your attention to the fact that NITDA gave a report to the fact that NITDA gave the report that UTAS did well in both the integrity test and user acceptability verification. Clearly, 85% and 77% are high class grades in any known evaluation system.

    “In their desperation to justify their false assertions, they threw up issues such as Data centre and hosting of UTAS software which are clearly outside the rubrics of ASUU’s responsibilities in the deployment of UTAS.

    “ASUU and NITDA are still engaged in the testing process. It is pertinent to note that one of the core mandates of NITDA is to encourage local content development.

    “Therefore, NITDA has to discharge its responsibility to ensure that this solution developed by Nigerian academics is deployed. In doing so, the principles of transparency should be adhered to by making available to the public the set of criteria or benchmark for certification of information technology application in Nigeria.

    “The DG, NITDA should stop making comments that are capable of jeopardizing the joint on-going testing of UTAS between the NITDA Technical Team and its counterpart in our Union.

    “However, if this behaviour continues, we will have no choice but to demand that the NITDA Technical Report on UTAS and our Union’s response be made public in order to shed more light on the ongoing controversies without further waste of time.

    “The DG, NITDA and the Minister superintending the agency are challenged to a public discussion on any national media to put all matters to rest for the benefit of our students, union members, and the Nigerian public in general”.

  • ASUU did not inform us before embarking on strike – Minister

    ASUU did not inform us before embarking on strike – Minister

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) did not inform the Ministry of Education before embarking on its one month strike, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu has said.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Adamu made this known on Tuesday in a statement released by Mr Bem Gboon, the Director of Press, Ministry of Education.

    According to the statement, the Ministry only heard like any other Nigerian that the ASUU has embarked on a four week warning strike.

    It added that the Ministry’s doors are always open for discussion but that no such avenue was explored before ASUU embarked on the strike.

    Recall that ASUU embarked on the one month warning strike on 14th February 2022 after a two-day National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.

    Announcing the strike, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, ASUU President said the union resolved to embark on the strike over the forceful payment of ASUU members’ salaries and emoluments with the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS).

    According to him, the non-adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) has continued to shortchange the union members.

    He also accused the government of failing to implement the Memorandum of Action it signed with the ASUU in December 2020.

    Osodeke said the union loathed disruption of academic activities and was not insensitive to concerns of stable academic calendar in public universities.

    He, however, sought the understanding and support of stakeholders to make the government more responsive to issues of health and education.

  • Strike: We will decide on our next line of action on a later date – ASUU

    Strike: We will decide on our next line of action on a later date – ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has failed to make a decision on when it’s members will embark on the next bout of industrial strike action threatened by the Union.

    Arising from an emergency meeting of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, President of the Union in a statement said the situation would be reviewed at a later date.

    Osodeke stated that this was in consideration of ongoing intervention and consultation efforts by different interest groups within and outside Nigeria to make government address all outstanding issues arising from the December 2020 MoA.

    The ASUU President, however, expressed worries by the spirited efforts of government agents to reduce the demands of ASUU to a regime of intermittent payment of watered-down revitalisation fund and release of distorted and grossly devalued Earned Academic Allowances (EAA).

    The statement noted NEC’s regrets that the Federal Government has turned its back on plan to set up an inter-ministerial committee to review the draft Renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement to enable the parties conclude a negotiation process which began in March 2017.

    The statement titled: enough of the blackmail reads:

    ENOUGH OF THE BLACKMAIL

    1. The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) held an emergency meeting at its Festus Iyayi National Secretariat, University of Abuja, on Saturday, 18th December, 2021 to review the level of government’s implementation of the FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA) of 23rd December, 2020 and other related matters. The ASUU-NEC meeting held against the backdrop of the union’s numerous consultative meetings, communications and discussions with relevant agents at both the executive and legislative arms of government since the suspension of the 2020 strike action.

    2. NEC was worried by the spirited efforts of government agents to reduce the demands of ASUU to a regime of intermittent payment of watered-down revitalisation fund and release of distorted and grossly devalued Earned Academic Allowances (EAA). NEC condemns, in strong terms, the surreptitious moves to pooh-pooh our demands on the review of the NUC’s Act to curb the proliferation of universities by State Governments who are not funding the existing ones; adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solutions (UTAS) with concurrent discontinuance of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and distortion in salary payment; release of accumulated promotion arrears; and the review and signing of the draft document on the Renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement. ASUU shall not relent in demanding for improvement in the welfare and conditions of service of our members. However, we shall resist any attempt to blackmail the union and derail our patriotic struggle for a productive university system by official propaganda founded on tokenism and crumb-sharing.

    3. NEC noted with regrets that the Federal Government has turned its back on plan to set up an inter-ministerial committee to review the draft Renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement to enable the parties conclude a negotiation process which began in March 2017. This is contrary to the assurance given the leadership of ASUU by the Minister of State for Education, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, at a meeting with the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives on 19th November, 2021. The Minister assured us that the process of reviewing the document would be set in motion within one week from that date. Hon. Nwajiuba’s failure to fulfil a promise made in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly is not only provocative but reminiscent of trust-deficit that has bedevilled all agreements and understandings reached with this government and those before it since 2009.

    4. NEC reviewed the letter by the Minister of Labour and Employment conveying the report of the “integrity test” on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) through the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy. The union wonders why it would take more than one year to get the needed feedback on a home-grown solution at a time Nigeria is yearning for “local content”. NEC is pleased that the end-user evaluation report overwhelmingly endorses UTAS for immediate deployment by government for Nigerian universities. On our part, ASUU is fully prepared to address all the technical observations made by NITDA in order to make this happen. Our hope is that the National Universities Commission (NUC) and other agencies of government would promptly respond to issues that concern them in the NITDA’s report to pave way for speedy migration to UTAS and spare Nigerian universities of the evil effects of the IMF/World Bank-engineered IPPIS.

    5. NEC took full account of efforts by student union bodies, leading media practitioners and organisations, religious and opinion leaders, frontline traditional rulers, civil society organisations and other interest groups within and outside Nigeria to make government address all outstanding issues arising from the December 2020 MoA. In particular, special cognisance was taken of the pledges made by the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) to make further consultations on the crisis in the coming days with a view to finding an amicable resolution.

    6. NEC concluded that government has failed to satisfactorily address all the issues raised in the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement and subsequent MoUs and MoAs. However, considering the ongoing intervention and consultation efforts, NEC resolved to review the situation at a later date with a view to deciding on the next line of action.

    7. Finally, NEC appreciates the concerns expressed by patriotic Nigerians and friends of Nigeria in solidarity with ASUU’s mission to salvage public education in general and the Nigerian University System in particular. We assure all and sundry that ASUU shall spare no efforts in its struggle for repositioning public universities and the transformation of Nigeria.

    8. The struggle continues!

  • BREAKING: NITDA approves UTAS for payment of lecturers as ASUU calls IPPIS evil

    BREAKING: NITDA approves UTAS for payment of lecturers as ASUU calls IPPIS evil

    The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has approved the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for the payment of lecturers in Nigerian universities.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Emmanuel Osodeke, President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) revealed this on Sunday in a statement, following an emergency meeting of the Union’s National Executive Council (NEC), held on Saturday.

    In the statement, Osodeke referred to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS), engineered by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank as evil, stressing that the continuous use of the IPPIS had distorted the payment of the salaries of lecturers.

    He wondered why it took more than one year to get the needed feedback on the home-grown solution of UTAS at a time Nigeria is yearning for “local content”.

    The ASUU President stressed that the Union was fully prepared to address all the technical observations made by NITDA in order to make the immediate deployment of UTAS happen.

    “NEC is pleased that the end-user evaluation report overwhelmingly endorses UTAS for immediate deployment by government for Nigerian universities. On our part, ASUU is fully prepared to address all the technical observations made by NITDA in order to make this happen.

    “Our hope is that the National Universities Commission (NUC) and other agencies of government would promptly respond to issues that concern them in the NITDA’s report to pave way for speedy migration to UTAS and spare Nigerian universities of the evil effects of the IMF/World Bank-engineered IPPIS,” Osodeke stated.

    Meanwhile, ASUU in the statement indicated that it has placed the decision on when it’s members will embark on the next bout of industrial strike action threatened by the Union on hold, stressing that the situation would be reviewed at a later date.

    Osodeke stated that this was in consideration of ongoing intervention and consultation efforts by different interest groups within and outside Nigeria to make government address all outstanding issues arising from the December 2020 MoA.

    The ASUU President, however, expressed worries by the spirited efforts of government agents to reduce the demands of ASUU to a regime of intermittent payment of watered-down revitalisation fund and release of distorted and grossly devalued Earned Academic Allowances (EAA).

    The statement noted NEC’s regrets that the Federal Government has turned its back on plan to set up an inter-ministerial committee to review the draft Renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement to enable the parties conclude a negotiation process which began in March 2017.

    The Union in the statement specifically accused the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba of failing to follow through with the promise made during a meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives on 19th November, 2021.

    “The Minister assured us that the process of reviewing the document would be set in motion within one week from that date. Hon. Nwajiuba’s failure to fulfil a promise made in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly is not only provocative but reminiscent of trust-deficit that has bedevilled all agreements and understandings reached with this government and those before it since 2009,” Osodeke stated.

    The statement titled: enough of the blackmail reads in full below:

    ENOUGH OF THE BLACKMAIL

    1. The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) held an emergency meeting at its Festus Iyayi National Secretariat, University of Abuja, on Saturday, 18th December, 2021 to review the level of government’s implementation of the FGN-ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA) of 23rd December, 2020 and other related matters. The ASUU-NEC meeting held against the backdrop of the union’s numerous consultative meetings, communications and discussions with relevant agents at both the executive and legislative arms of government since the suspension of the 2020 strike action.

    2. NEC was worried by the spirited efforts of government agents to reduce the demands of ASUU to a regime of intermittent payment of watered-down revitalisation fund and release of distorted and grossly devalued Earned Academic Allowances (EAA). NEC condemns, in strong terms, the surreptitious moves to pooh-pooh our demands on the review of the NUC’s Act to curb the proliferation of universities by State Governments who are not funding the existing ones; adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solutions (UTAS) with concurrent discontinuance of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and distortion in salary payment; release of accumulated promotion arrears; and the review and signing of the draft document on the Renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement. ASUU shall not relent in demanding for improvement in the welfare and conditions of service of our members. However, we shall resist any attempt to blackmail the union and derail our patriotic struggle for a productive university system by official propaganda founded on tokenism and crumb-sharing.

    3. NEC noted with regrets that the Federal Government has turned its back on plan to set up an inter-ministerial committee to review the draft Renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement to enable the parties conclude a negotiation process which began in March 2017. This is contrary to the assurance given the leadership of ASUU by the Minister of State for Education, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, at a meeting with the Honourable Speaker of the House of Representatives on 19th November, 2021. The Minister assured us that the process of reviewing the document would be set in motion within one week from that date. Hon. Nwajiuba’s failure to fulfil a promise made in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly is not only provocative but reminiscent of trust-deficit that has bedevilled all agreements and understandings reached with this government and those before it since 2009.

    4. NEC reviewed the letter by the Minister of Labour and Employment conveying the report of the “integrity test” on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) through the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy. The union wonders why it would take more than one year to get the needed feedback on a home-grown solution at a time Nigeria is yearning for “local content”. NEC is pleased that the end-user evaluation report overwhelmingly endorses UTAS for immediate deployment by government for Nigerian universities. On our part, ASUU is fully prepared to address all the technical observations made by NITDA in order to make this happen. Our hope is that the National Universities Commission (NUC) and other agencies of government would promptly respond to issues that concern them in the NITDA’s report to pave way for speedy migration to UTAS and spare Nigerian universities of the evil effects of the IMF/World Bank-engineered IPPIS.

    5. NEC took full account of efforts by student union bodies, leading media practitioners and organisations, religious and opinion leaders, frontline traditional rulers, civil society organisations and other interest groups within and outside Nigeria to make government address all outstanding issues arising from the December 2020 MoA. In particular, special cognisance was taken of the pledges made by the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) to make further consultations on the crisis in the coming days with a view to finding an amicable resolution.

    6. NEC concluded that government has failed to satisfactorily address all the issues raised in the 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement and subsequent MoUs and MoAs. However, considering the ongoing intervention and consultation efforts, NEC resolved to review the situation at a later date with a view to deciding on the next line of action.

    7. Finally, NEC appreciates the concerns expressed by patriotic Nigerians and friends of Nigeria in solidarity with ASUU’s mission to salvage public education in general and the Nigerian University System in particular. We assure all and sundry that ASUU shall spare no efforts in its struggle for repositioning public universities and the transformation of Nigeria.

    8. The struggle continues!