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  • ASUU vows to resist any attempt to truncate deployment of UTAS

    ASUU vows to resist any attempt to truncate deployment of UTAS

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has vowed to resist any attempt to truncate the deployment of University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) with all legitimate means available to the Union.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke made this known on Monday in a statement issued following a meeting of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) to review developments since it’s resolution to extend its roll-over strike action by another 12 weeks with effect from 9th May, 2022.

    According to Prof Osodeke in the statement, NEC observed the ongoing trial of the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed ldris on an allegation of monumental fraud vindicated ASUU’s rejection of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information (IPPIS).

    The union, therefore, enjoined the National Information Technology Development Agency
    (NITDA) to release reports of the latest tests on the UTAS vis-à-vis Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS) without further delay.

    Osodeke explained that the NEC meeting took place against the backdrop of the government’s obligations as spelt out in the Memorandum of Action (MoA) it signed with ASUU on 23rd December 2020.

    “Specifically, NEC recalled that government’s failure to conclude the process of renegotiating the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, deploy the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), pay outstanding arrears of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), release agreed sum of money for the revitalization of public universities (Federal and States), address proliferation and governance issues in State Universities, settle promotion arrears, release withheld salaries of academics, and pay outstanding third-party deductions led to the initial declaration of the roll-over strike on 14th February, 2022.

    “NEC viewed with seriousness the recent directive given by the President and Visitor to all Federal Universities that the Minister of Education, in consultation with other government officials, should resolve the lingering crisis and report to him within two weeks. The Union wonders why it had taken five full months and needless muscle-flexing tor government to come to the realisation of the need tor honest engagement.

    “NEC acknowledged the growing understanding of the issues and the groundswell of support for the Union’s principled demand for a globally competitive university education in Nigeria. Nigerian universities must not be reduced to constituency projects that merely exist on paper and our scholars must be incentivised to stay back and do what they know best, here in Nigeria.

    “NEC appreciated the historic nationwide protest of 26th and 27th July, 2022 organised by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in collaboration with Civil Society Organisations (CSO) to further create awareness on the antics of the Nigerian ruling class to destroy public education. ASUU renews its commitment to the struggles of NLC in championing the cause of the working and suffering Nigerians.
    6. NEC observed that non-signing of the draft renegotiated 2009 FGN-ASUU Agreement more than one month after it was concluded by Professor Nimi Briggs-led Committee is further tasking the patience of ASUU members nationwide.

    “NEC further observed that the on-going trial of the suspended Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Ahmed ldris, on allegation of monumental fraud has vindicated ASUU’s rejection of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information (IPPIS). The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is enjoined to release reports of the latest tests on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) vis-à-vis IPPIS without further delay. ASUU shall resist any attempt to truncate the deployment of UTAS with all legitimate means available to the Union.

    “NEC noted that cumulative indifference by the political class gave vent to pervasive atmosphere of insecurity which now threatens seamless provision of educational services in the country. The unceremonious closure of educational institutions in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), following the recent attack on Presidential Guards, betrays a panicky measure to addressing a malignant ailment. Nothing short of a comprehensive overhaul of the security architecture of the country will sustainably address the problem.

    “Following extensive deliberations and taking cognisance of Government’s past failures to abide by its own timelines in addressing issues raised in the 2020 FGN/ASUU Memorandum of Action (MoA), NEC resolved that the strike be rolled over for four weeks to give Government more time to satisfactorily resolve all the outstanding issues. The role-over strike action is with effect from 12.01a.m. on Monday, 1st August, 2022,” a statement issued by the ASUU President at the end of the meeting reads.

  • 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 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.

  • 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.

  • 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: Ngige accuses lecturers of making negotiation difficult

    ASUU strike: Ngige accuses lecturers of making negotiation difficult

    The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has accused universities lecturers of making negotiation with the federal government difficult, blaming the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for prolonging the industrial strike embarked on since February 14th.

    Ngige, who disclosed this in a statement issued by Patience Onuobia, Acting Head of Press and Public Relation in the ministry on Tuesday in Abuja, was reacting to the insinuations that he was responsible for the ongoing action by the union.

    Ngige, however, said he had done what many could not do to forestall strikes by ASUU and according to him, negotiation now is being made impossible by ASUU.

    “For example, ASUU insists that the National Information and Technology Development Agency (NITDA) should take the payment platform, University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) that it developed.

    “That they should deploy it for payment in the university whether it is good or bad, whether it failed integrity and vulnerability test or not.

    “ASUU members know that fraud committed on payment platforms can run into billions. If a hacker adds zeros to hundreds, it becomes billions,” he said.

    Ngige noted that NITDA brought out the report of its test on UTAS, noting that it passed the user acceptability but failed vulnerability and integrity tests which were the two critical tests that prevented fraud.

    “As a conciliator, I spoke to ASUU and NITDA to continue the test and see whether they could make up the lapses and arrive at 100 per cent because that is what NITDA insists on.

    According to him, NITDA said they cannot even take the platform at 99.9 per cent of vulnerability and integrity. That they can’t take that risk on a payment system, that it can be hacked into.

    “These are the issues. So if you hear someone saying Ngige is responsible, it is wrong. I’m not the one that implements. I’m the conciliator.

    “I conciliate so that there will be no more warfare and even in conciliation, once I apprehend, the parties go back to status quo ante- which means, you call off the strike.

    “ASUU should have by now called off the strike because that’s what the law says.

    “I have earlier, while we convened the National Labour Advisory Council in Lagos last month, urged the NLC to which ASUU is affiliated, to intervene in this respect,” Ngige said.

    He also revealed that Prof. Nimi Briggs Committee on Renegotiation of 2009 Agreement which ASUU shunned despite several appeals to them had rounded off its assignment and submitted to the Ministry of Education.

    He added that “we will follow it from there. There is a bright light at the end of the tunnel”.

    The minister, however, noted that he had successfully conciliated 1,683 industrial disputes since assumption of office in 2015.

    He said that the role of the Minister of Labour was to conciliate disputes and did not include the implementation of agreements reached with parties.

    “However, when conciliation fails, the Minister is under obligation by sections 9 and 14 of Trade Disputes Act, Cap T8 , Laws of the Federation of Nigeria to transmit the results of the negotiation to the Industrial Arbitration Panel (IAP) or to National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN).

    “In the ongoing ASUU imbroglio, I’m the conciliator. I bring them to negotiate with their employers.

    “That is the Ministry of Education and the National University Commission as well as IPPIS, the office of the Accountant General of the Federation, all under the Ministry of Finance.

    “At the end of every negotiation, we put down what everybody has agreed on in writing and add timelines for implementation,” he said.

    The Minister also noted that ASUU strike had been a recurrent decimal in the last 20 years, adding that they had gone on strike, 16 times. So, there is nothing new as such.

    “What is new however is that I have done what Napoleon could not do,’’ he said.

    Ngige, in another development, mourned the death of former Minister of Labour, Graham Douglas.

    He described the late Douglas as a “quintessential politician” who excelled in labour administration at the incipient era of this democratic dispensation.

    Ngige added that Nigeria has lost a patriot.

    “Graham Douglas will be remembered for effectively managing labour between 1999 and 2000, a very difficult period for the tripartite community, having just emerged from long military dictatorship,” he said.

    He prayed God Almighty to comfort his family and grant him eternal rest.