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Tag: IPPIS

  • Health workers threaten strike in support of ASUU

    Health workers threaten strike in support of ASUU

    The Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), says it will go on a solidarity strike in support of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and other unions.

    Mr Biobelemoye Josiah, MHWUN National President, issued the threat in a statement he jointly signed with Mr Auwalu Kiyawa, Acting Secretary General of the union, on Sunday in Abuja.

    The statement is entitled; “MHWUN stands in solidarity with the university based unions in the ongoing struggle to emancipate and reposition the public tertiary Institutions in Nigeria for progressive development’’.

    Recall that ASUU, and other unions in public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, have been on industrial action for more than six months over alleged failure of the Federal Government to meet their demands.

    The unions are demanding funding of the revitalisation fund, earned allowances, implementation of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) scheme, as well as promotion arrears.

    Other demands are; the renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement, and the resolution of inconsistency in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), among others.

    Josiah said the leadership of the union condemned in strong terms the lethargic attitude of government in resolving the issues in contention

    He said: “In order to protect the future of our youths whose academic life is being disrupted, we call on the government to implement without further delay all the agreements it had entered with the unions.

    “We urge the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), to ensure that President Muhammadu Buhari’s earlier directive to resolve all outstanding issues with the unions is backed by immediate acceptable action that would end the stalemate.

    “MHWUN wishes to use this medium to unequivocally state that we firmly stand behind the university based unions and the clear position of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), leadership in this historic struggle.

    “Our state councils have been put on red alert, and we will not hesitate to declare a solidarity strike in support of the unions if government fails to resolve the issues within a reasonable time, ’’he said.

    According to MHWUN, no responsible government will close down its public tertiary institutions over patriotic demands for a better funding of its universities and good welfare for its teaching and non-teaching staff.

    He described it as shameful, saying that the union was particularly irked that the Federal Government and the political actors had abandoned the children of the masses at home to waste away.

    “Instead, they are seen dissipating energy and resources that could have been used to resolve the issue to fund political tussles.

    “We are more worried with the development because the academic future of the citizenry is being disrupted.

    “Whereas the politicians and top government officials have their children mostly in well funded and equipped overseas schools or in relatively expensive private schools in Nigeria.

    “Discerning minds will agree with us that the negative impact of the strike to the future of our children and Nigeria in general cannot be quantified, ’’he said.

    Josiah called on people of goodwill to stand up in defence of the right and future of  children and Nigeria, by demanding that the government did the right thing to bring the children back to the classroom.

    Similarly, the union also categorically condemned in the strongest terms the spate of insecurity in the country.

    It noted that the rising orgies of killing, banditry, kidnapping for ransom, and extreme agitation for secession, had assumed a dangerous dimension.

    “Nigerian workers are no longer safe, both in their homes and at work places, as many have lost their lives to these enemies of state.

    “We therefore, demand for a resolute action from government to end this degrading assault on the sovereignty of our nation,’’ the president said.

    Also speaking on the current economic crisis, Josiah condemned the current scarcity of diesel, cooking gas, petrol and aviation fuel, and the rising prices of goods and services all over the country.

    He said that this pathetic development had further exposed workers, whose salaries and income has already been eroded by inflation, to greater hardships.

    “The situation reinforces the earlier call by the organised labour for a resolute action on domestic refining of petroleum,’’ he said.

    MHWUN, however, reiterated the union’s call for its members to ensure they registered and obtained their Permanent Voter’s Card.

  • ASUU gives condition to call off lingering strike

    ASUU gives condition to call off lingering strike

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has given a condition to call off the lingering strike it’s embarked on from February 14th 2022.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osedeke gave the condition on Monday night.

    Prof Osedeke challenged the federal government to accept the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) payment platform for ASUU to call off the ongoing strike.

    Osedeke, who said this while speaking on Channel Television on Monday night, insisted that the strike will continue unless the government accepts UTAS and honour the 2009 agreement.

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

    “We challenge the government, when would they sign the agreement? When would they accept UTAS? These are the two questions we should ask the Nigerian government,” the ASUU President said.

    TNG reports ASUU declared the strike to compel the government to act on a variety of issues that had lingered between both parties for years.

    While the Federal Government continues to work on the demands of ASUU, academic activities across all public universities, polytechnics, and colleges of Education have been paralysed.

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

    ALSO READ || Strike: We did not approve UTAS, it failed integrity test – NITDA to ASUU

    The union is demanding funding of the revitalisation fund, earned allowances, implementation of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) scheme, as well as promotion arrears.

    Other demands are; the renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement, and the resolution of inconsistency in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), among others.

  • ASUU Strike: NLC threatens to embark on one-day nationwide protest

    ASUU Strike: NLC threatens to embark on one-day nationwide protest

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), says it will embark on a one-day nationwide protest to compel the Federal Government find immediate resolutions to contending issues with education sector unions.

    The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba said this during the opening of the Congress’ Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting on Thursday in Abuja.

    Wabba expressed sadness over the continued closure of the country’s tertiary institutions due to unresolved labour disputes between the Federal Government and unions in education.

    While the Federal Government continues to work on the demands of the unions, academic activities across all public universities, polytechnics, collages of Education have been suspended.

    The unions are demanding funding of the revitalisation fund, earned allowances, implementation of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) scheme, as well as promotion arrears.

    Other demands are; the renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement, and the resolution of inconsistency in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), among others.

    Wabba said: “You will recall that the last decision we took, we even went to the extent of writing to President Muhammadu Buhari, we gave a 21-day notice for them to converge a very high powered meeting.

    “We demanded that the meeting should be chaired either by the Secretary of Government of the Federation (SGF), or the Chief of Staff to the President, for this issue to be resolved once and for all.

    “That meeting was called, but from the reports that I have been receiving from all the unions in the education sector, progress has not been made.

    “The timeline of three weeks that was given to the committees for all reports to be turned in, and for government to be able to take a concrete decision, has not been met.”

    The NLC president however, alleged that there was reluctance by the Federal Government in addressing the issues.

    “Therefore, the Central Working Committee has decided that there will be a one-day national protest.

    “This is to call the attention of government to resolve the issues immediately.

    “We have also asked all our affiliates by the next one week to issue statements,” he said.

    He said the decision to embark on the one-day national protest was imperative as children of the poor had continued to remain at home.

    He also said that CWC had observed that there was increase in social vices, that could be traced to the fact that youths had been at home for months.

    Wabba also condemned the lingering scarcity of fuel and the long queues across the country.

    According to him, it is pathetic that Nigeria has not availed itself of the rich endowment of oil resource by continuing to depend on imported petroleum products for local consumption.

    Wabba said that the situation has brought about dire consequences on productivity, economy and wellbeing of the citizens.

    “For instance, diesel is now selling at more than N800 per litre. It is unfortunate that Nigeria, despite being a major oil producing country, has continued to fail to refine her own crude oil.

    “The result of this, is the net total of 100 per cent importation of refined petroleum products into Nigeria.

    “The consequence is the heavy hemorrhage of our national coffers, especially given our current challenges, which has also brought about the long queues in almost all the filling stations,’’ he said.

    He also noted that the situation had affected the purchasing power of many Nigerians, brought hardships, while many businesses had been brought to a halt due to dependence on expensive alternative power sources such as generators.

    Wabba therefore, said the only way out of the challenges was to end discussions on whether there was subsidy or not, and refine petroleum products for domestic use.

    He also condemned the recent sack of more than 3,000 teachers by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State.

  • FG weeds 70,000 ghost workers from federal civil service

    FG weeds 70,000 ghost workers from federal civil service

    The federal government of Nigeria says it has expunged no fewer than 70,000 ghost workers from the payroll of the federal civil service.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Director-General, Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), Dr Dasuki Arabi made this known on Thursday.

    Dr Arabi revealed that the introduction of the Integration Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) reduced the Federal Civil Service personnel to 720,000.

    According to him, the IPPIS led to the weeding out of about 70,000 ghost workers from the service and hence saving the Federal Government over N220 billion.

    Arabi stated this while appearing at the 43rd Session of the ministerial media briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    While giving key updates on the performance of the bureau in the execution of its core mandate, particularly in ensuring the full implementation of reform policies and programmes for the government, Arabi said the government also saved N10 trillion following the introduction of the Single Treasury Account (TSA).

    ”These are some of the benefits that we think government or Nigerians have benefited out of the work that we have been doing in collaboration with other agencies of government, where they, with the introduction of IPPIS, about 70,000 ghost workers have been eliminated from the payroll.

    “We have a one shot opportunity to look at IPPIS and say, as at today, we have 720,000 public servants working for Nigeria.

    “This is a great achievement which I think we need to encode and we need to get it celebrated by all of us.

    ”We’ve been able to reduce more than N220 billion wastage through wrong management of IPPIS on payroll by Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government. We have reduced the budget deficits and change the budget composition.

    “We have succeeded in getting the Treasury Single Account deployed in all ministries, departments and agencies of government.

    ”Challenges have come in that implementation at the initial stage, but we are overcoming that and government is able to save over N10 trillion over the years because whatever you’re generating now goes into a Treasury Single Account that is managed by somebody else, not you.

    “And government, especially at the top is always able to see what has come into our Treasury Single Account today and what has gone out of that.

    ”So, planning has been simplified. Budgeting has been simplified.

    “Our distribution and allocation of resources have been simplified and streamlined.”

    The director-general said as part of the reforms in the service, the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIGMIS) had made government business paperless.

    According to him, it has reduced man to man contact and processing, payments in ministries, departments and agencies of government.

    He added: “Transparency has been improved. A lot of things are done even outside the office.

    ”But the most important thing is the ability given to central agencies, office of Accountant General of the Federation, and the Ministry of Finance to see what is happening in all ministries, departments and agencies of government because GIFMIS is not controlled by the agencies.

    “It is controlled by the central agencies, but every activity you are doing under GIFMIS somebody is watching you and is monitoring that activity.

    ”This is a great achievement for us and for all of you and for all Nigerians.

    “There is better access to information on finances in this country. Whatever you do, somebody’s watching you and somebody can request and get those information.

    ”International rating agencies standards and co have more confidence in Nigeria now because they have access to information and data that they were not able to get before this time.

    “Again, this is a breakdown of some of the benefits of the reforms that we’ve been  driving.”

    On deductions blamed on the IPPIS, which has been a source of friction especially between government and universities unions, Arabi affirmed that deductions just did not occur on their own except where loans had been obtained.

    He explained: “On deductions and complaints around IPPIS, you know, we have just started from the pilot ministries, six.

    ”We went to 10 then because of the push by the international community, especially the development partners, who are really eager to get Nigeria at that level at par with other nations we went through.

    “I remember, I’m privileged to be part of the team that started the discussion around IPPIS and were able to get different sectors of the Public Service to come and have meetings and discussions with us to understand their various cadre within the field, their pay structure; their responsibilities and all these have been taken care of.

    “Along the line, there are some new creations and I think there are some omissions, which government is addressing, but I would not take this man’s complain that their deductions like that, it cannot be arbitrary.

    “For every deduction that is done, there is justification for that. And if there are problems, they are identified and complaints made, that will be rectified. and quite a number of our colleagues, some may have taken lot of loans that have committed themselves, deductions are being made left, right and centre.

    “So, I want to assure you and the person that complained to you, that government is addressing some of these problems.”

    According to Arabi, the federal government is silently implementing aspects of the Oransanye Report on Civil Service Reforms.

    He said government would soon make an announcement on the implementation of the White Paper.

    “On Oronsaye white paper government has been working around that.

    ”You are aware that it was implemented in good time. And over the years, there have been changes.

    ”More agencies and commissions were created which makes it necessary for government to look back and say okay, between Oronsanye White Paper and today, how many more agencies have been created?

    “So, that was why those committees were created. But beyond that, I want to tell you that some silent aspects of the report are being implemented silently.

    ”We’re hoping that very soon we will conclude on that and the major activity will come.

    ”So, just wait for the announcement from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, who is the chairman of the implementation committee of the white paper,” he added.

  • COEASU resumes warning strike, to last 4 weeks

    The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), has resumed its warning strike, which was suspended in 2018, over alleged neglect of the Colleges of Education sub-sector by Federal and State Governments.

    Its Northwest Secretary, Mr Inuwa Ishaq-Inuwa, announced this to newsmen in a press conference on Saturday in Kano.

    Ishaq-Inuwa, who is also the COEASU Chairman, Sa’adatu Rimi College of Education, Kumbotso, Kano State, said that the union was left with no option other than to resume the strike.

    He said that the union’s National Headquarters, under the leadership of its President, Dr. Smart Olugbeko, directed all state-owned Colleges of Education to join the strike and press home their local demands.

    He recalled that COEASU suspended its strike in 2018, but four years down the line, it resolved to continue with the strike over alleged lack of commitments by the governments to resolve some lingering issues.

    According to him, “The Federal Government failed to constitute its own team for negotiations on the FGN-COEASU 2010 Agreement despite all entreaties.

    “The non implementation of the 2014 Needs assessment report, non payment of outstanding promotion arrears from 2016 to date and the non payment of responsibility allowance to Librarian in Colleges of Education, are some of our demands.

    “Poor funding of Colleges of Education and poor conditions of some state Colleges of Education are also part of the demands,” he said.

    Others, he said, are non implementation of consequential effect of implementation of CONTISS 15 on Lower Cadre and the Federal Government’s insistence on IPPIS instead of UTAS that capture the peculiarity of tertiary institutions.

  • ASUU, polytechnic lecturers, others to get N34bn minimum wage arrears – FG

    ASUU, polytechnic lecturers, others to get N34bn minimum wage arrears – FG

    The Federal Government says it will spend about N34 billion as arrears of Minimum Wage Consequential Adjustments in the education sector effective from 2019.

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige said that this was aimed at resolving the lingering crisis in the sector.

    Ngige made this known while speaking with newsmen on the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), and others on Tuesday in Abuja.

    Ngige said that the beneficiaries of the Minimum Wage Consequential Adjustments included the members of the striking ASUU and their counterparts in the polytechnics and Colleges of Education.

    According to Ngige, the universities will get N23.5 billion, the polytechnics N6 billion and the Colleges of Education N4 billion, bringing the total sum to N33.5 billion.

    The minister, while giving an update on the ongoing strike, said committees were set up during the last tripartite meeting of the government and university based unions.

    He said they were given a fortnight to turn in their report, adding they were still working and the reports of the committees were being expected at the end of the week.

    “Those committees are working. The one on NITDA is testing the three platforms, the government’s Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

    “Also the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) of ASUU and the Universities Peculiar Personnel Payroll System (UPPPS) of the non-teaching staff.

    “They have started the testing last Thursday. The National Salaries, Wages and Incomes Commission (NSWIC) has issued their amendment circulars.

    “The unions also have copies to take care of responsibility and hazard allowances wherever it has not been properly captured.’’

    Ngige assured that there might likely be wage adjustments as the government intensified efforts to streamline wages through the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission.

    “For example, we have done for the police. It wasn’t envisaged that we should do it in pockets. But you can see that police has been done.

    “You can also see university teachers saying that their own should be done immediately since we have done police. So, something is being done. It was part of the 2009 negotiation they had with the government then.

    “So, the committee of Prof. Briggs is on it, discussing with the university unions and their employer, the Federal Ministry of Education. They will bring up something for government to see.

    “There are other people. The doctors are complaining about brain drain, this and that. Their hazard allowance has to be touched and it was touched by close to 300 per cent.

    “From N5, 000 paid across the board for each person, the least person in the health sector is getting N15, 000, while the big ones are getting N45, 000. So, that is the quantum leap,” he added.

    The minister, therefore, appealed to ASUU and other university-based unions once more to suspend their strike so that academic activities could resume once again in public universities across the country.

  • Why we will remain on strike – ASUU

    Why we will remain on strike – ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said there is no going back on its decision to continue with its ongoing strike following Federal Government’s failure to honour the 2009 agreement.

    ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osedeke, who made this known in an interview on Wednesday in Abuja, said the union took the ‘difficult decision’ after exhausting all avenues available to amicably settle the matter with the Federal Government.

    “Let me give you an example because this is where we are getting it wrong, when the airline operators said they were going to stop the flights, the Senate and House of Representatives quickly stepped in.

    “This is because they are affected; they quickly rushed in and addressed the problem, why would they not resolve that of the education sector that is affecting the children of the poor and the ordinary people

    “If the government is willing to resolve the issues affecting the Nigerians, then there would be no need to go on strike. The problem is the will of the government to resolve issues,” Osedeke said in the interview with NAN.

    Recall that ASUU on Monday extended its roll-over strike which started on Feb. 14 by another 12 weeks. The striking lecturers’ demands include, funding of the revitalisation of public universities, Earned Academic Allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and promotion arrears.

    Others are the renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FG Agreement and the inconsistency in the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

    Osedeke revealed that none of these demands had been met by the Federal Government, saying: “All the issues that made us to go on strike are still there; that is the revitalisation fund, that is putting more money into universities and revitalising the infrastructure in the universities.

    “There is also the issue of our mode of payments in the universities. There is no university in the world where lecturers are paid salaries from the Accountant General’s Office.

    “We have challenged them to provide one, if universities are universal body, why are they doing things differently. We talk of negotiation of the agreement, the proliferation of universities, among others, so there are lots of issues that they have not resolved”.

    The ASUU president also said that the government had also refused to accept UTAS that he said had been tested and passed with a scored 99.3 per cent.

    Osedeke urged the Federal Government to do the needful in order for students to return to school.

  • Industrial action: COEASU gives FG 21-day ultimatum to meet demands

    Industrial action: COEASU gives FG 21-day ultimatum to meet demands

    The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has given the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum to address the union’s demands else it will embark on industrial action.

    This is contained in a statement by the President of the association, Dr Smart Olugbeko and the General-Secretary, Dr Ahmed Bazza, made available to newsmen in Abuja.

    The statement said that after extensive deliberation, the NEC of COEASU resolved on the ultimatum beginning from May 9.

    It said that the NEC further resolved that in the unexpected event that government fails to do the needful within the period of the ultimatum, the union would declare appropriate industrial action.

    It, therefore, called on well-meaning Nigerians and stakeholders in the tertiary education sector to prevail on government to urgently take appropriate actions before the ultimatum lapses.

    “The National Executive Council (NEC) of our great union convened at Federal College of Education, Okene, Kogi State on May 6 to compile the outcome of referendum conducted across all chapters nationwide.

    We “re-assesed seriousness of government towards resolution of festering issues and decided the way forward.

    “The NEC observed, with consternation, that the FG has been ridiculously unfair to the union by taking the understanding shown over time for granted and leaving issues unaddressed, in spite of the union’s entreaties,” it said.

    The statement further said dilly-dallying posture of government to renegotiation of COEASU-FGN 2010 Agreement remained unaddressed.

    It said that the long anticipated renegotiation of COEASU-FGN 2010 agreement holds enormous promise for mutual resolution of several challenges bedevilling the COE system as the FG has refused to accord the exercise deserved priority.

    ”Ridiculously, the FG has refused to constitute her own renegotiation team after acknowledging receipt of our union’s team list on her own request for over two months now.

    ”Government has refused to accede to our demand for the fulfilment of her own pledge of N15bn revitalisation fund.

    ”Apart from being a far cry from N478bn, being the outcome of the 2014 Presidential Needs Assessment across public COEs, the delay in its release has made nonsense of the value due to inflation,” it said.

    The statement also denied media reports quoting the Minister for Education, Malam Adamu Adamu as having said on various public occasions that the revitalisation fund had been released by the Federal Government.

    it said what the union received was a call to propose modalities for the disbursement, saying that the frustrating wait for the disbursement of the fund had continued ever thereafter.

    On poor funding of COEs and poor conditions across state-owned COEs, it said that the sector had continued to suffer untold hardships through non-payment of salary and salary arrears as well as refusal to implement the statutory salary structure in full.

    ” Many colleges find it difficult to run smoothly due to non-release of running costs by government.

    “Many state governments have abdicated their responsibility as proprietors to TETFund, as the only projects you see in the colleges are TETFund projects.

    ” The Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) is causing more havoc to tertiary institutions than good.

    “Uptill the end of March, 1,219 lecturers in COEs are experiencing one problem or the other with IPPIS.

    “COEASU has demanded the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), an alternative innovation of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    “UTAS has been found superior to IPPIS as it has the capacity to address our payroll security concerns and the peculiarities of tertiary institutions,” it said.

  • ASUU strike: If it’s IPPIS, it’s not a justifiable cause – BPSR D-G

    ASUU strike: If it’s IPPIS, it’s not a justifiable cause – BPSR D-G

    Director General (DG) of the Bureau of Public Service Reform (BPSR), Dr Dasuki Arabi has said the ongoing strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is not a justifiable cause if it is about the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Dr Arabi made this known on Wednesday at a workshop on blockchain technology organized by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

    Arabi was speaking on the application of emerging technologies in public sector reforms when he revealed that at the time when the IPPIS was being developed, ASUU was invited to make inputs but the union refused to honour the invitation.

    He stressed that the IPPIS is a robust tool that can be amended to accommodate different and various interest, adding that if the strike embarked upon by the universities lecturers is about the IPPIS, then the strike was not a justifiable cause.

    “When we were developing IPPIS, we invited ASUU to make inputs, but they refused to honour our invitation. They did not even come to say we have an option as at that time. They just did not come. So, we had no option than to design IPPIS the way it is.

    “But it [IPPIS] is such a robust tool that can be amended to accommodate different and various interest. That is it on the battle of strike. So, if it is IPPIS, on this side, I think it is not a justifiable cause,” Arabi said.

    On the issue of funding for ASUU, the BPSR D-G advised that public-private partnership model should be adopted to fund education in the country, stressing that government alone cannot fund education.

    “That was why I spoke about PPP. It is definitely very difficult for government, especially Nigeria to meet the demands of ASUU, not only ASUU, but to be able to fund education the way it should be funded.

    “But, the more we adopt emerging technologies, open up the system, get more transparent, nations, development partners, investors will come and invest in our educational system and some of these problems would be addressed,” Arabi said.

    Recall that ASUU embarked on the ongoing strike starting from February 14th 2022 to press home their demands. The striking lecturers are agitating for the implementation of the memorandum of action agreed between the government and ASUU, including improved funding and removal from IPPIS.

    The union provided the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as it’s preferred tool for receiving payments and other earned allowances in the place of IPPIS.

    However, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has said UTAS passed user acceptability test but failed integrity and credibility test, which form the bulwark against hacking.

    Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the striking lecturers requested the FG to release N200 billion from the N4 trillion fuel subsidy to them and they will suspend the months old strike immediately.

  • ASUU strike: We are talking with NITDA to bend on UTAS – Ngige

    ASUU strike: We are talking with NITDA to bend on UTAS – Ngige

    Dr Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment has said the Federal Government (FG) is currently in talks with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to reconsider its position on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Dr Ngige made this known while appealing to members of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to immediately call off their prolonged industrial action.

    Ngige said this on Thursday in Abuja, while interacting with newsmen after receiving notification letter of his nomination by Sun Newspaper Publishing Limited for the award of ‘Public Service Icon 2021’.

    The the striking lecturers have been on strike for over months to press home their demands.

    The lecturers are agitating for the implementation of the memorandum of action agreed between the government and ASUU, including improved funding and removal from IPPIS.

    However, the minister called on ASUU to return to their students for resumption of academic work in the public universities.

    Ngige said the federal government remained unrelenting in its efforts towards addressing all the industrial disputes in the university system, involving ASUU and the other unions.

    “Everything contained in the December 2020 agreement were religiously executed to the extent that the federal government aggregately paid N92 billion from the 2021 budget.

    “This is to cover the revitalisation funds and Earned Academic Allowances/Earned Allowances for non-teaching staff,” he said.

    Ngige also maintained that regarding the renegotiation of conditions of service of the university lecturers, that the renegotiation must be guided by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) principle of ability to pay.

    He recalled that the former renegotiation committee headed by Prof. Jubril Munzali made a proposal of 200 per cent rise in emoluments of university workers, but the federal government through the Ministry of Education said it cannot pay.

    The minister said the university system and the teaching hospitals consume two thirds of all the emoluments currently paid from the national budget of the country.

    This meant that an increase for the lecturers would occasion upward review of the salaries of allied professionals in the health sector, based on their different salary structures, he explained.

    “There is no point giving you percentages on paper that nobody can pay. Munzali worked out a percentage which placed the university workers on about 200 per cent pay rise.

    “The Federal Government through the Education Ministry said they cannot pay. The Ministry of Finance said they cannot pay. They came to me and I said nothing is wrong with renegotiation because even if a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is signed, it could be renegotiated.

    “The document produced by Munzali was not signed by both ASUU and the Federal Government. It is a proposal. Munzali’s committee had elapsed.

    “The Education Ministry didn’t act as I wanted. The Minister was away and his lieutenants didn’t do anything for five months, contrary to my expectations.

    “The minister has set up another committee headed by Prof. Nimi Briggs. They have been working and I have given them six weeks to come up with a proposal,” he added.

    On the payment platform for university lecturers, Ngige said NITDA informed him that UTAS proposed by ASUU passed user acceptability test but failed integrity and credibility test, which form the bulwark against hacking.

    He added that “NITDA said UTAS failed, ASUU said we didn’t fail. As we were discussing, ASUU went on strike.

    “In the face of this disagreement between ASUU and NITDA, we are talking with NITDA to bend backwards so that there will be a handshake between UTAS and the government certified IPPIS platform.

    “After embarking on strike, ASUU has gone back to what I proposed to them,’’ he said.

    Ngige also faulted the demand by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) for a High-Powered Panel constituted of members with requisite mandates to resolve within 21 days the foregoing issues militating against industrial harmony in the system.

    Recall that NLC and its affiliate unions in the education sector held a meeting on April 13, to take reports on the ongoing industrial dispute cum action in Nigeria’s university system and resolved to make the call.

    According to Ngige, President Muhammadu Buhari had already put in place his own high-powered team, comprising his Chief of Staff, the Ministers of Labour, Education, Finance, Communication and Digital Economy.

    Earlier, the management of the Sun Newspapers led by its Managing Director, Mr Onuoha Ukeh, described Ngige as a quintessential public servant whose contributions to national development were enviable.

    Ukeh described him as “an administrative czar and a nonconformist politician” whose 34 months as governor of Anambra revolutionalised the state.

    “Ngige, as governor, transformed Awka to a befitting capital city during his tenure, tarring all the roads in the GRA Awka, dualised Nnamdi Azikiwe Road and put streetlights, among others,’’ he said.

    He also noted that the minister’s labour diplomacy enabled the ministry resolved through social dialogue, over 1,700 industrial disputes while restoring Nigeria to the governing board of the ILO.