ASUU Strike: Ngige gives update on ASUU, FG concession.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has given an update over the ongoing concession between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
ASUU had embarked on one-month warning strike on February 14, to press home their demands, including the relinquishment of the University Translucency and Responsibility Result payment platform.
Ngige, who spoke to State House reporters at the end of the meeting with the chairman, said the Federal Government had so far paid over N92 billion as earned allowances and revitalisation freights to civil- possessed universities across the country.
He said this was part of the perpetration of the 2020 December agreement reached with ASUU.
“Why I said that the 2020 December agreement we had with ASUU is on course in terms of perpetration. There's a line that says the civil government should pay N40 billion for ( Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) for ASUU and other unions, that has been paid.
“ N30 billion was also calculated or was to be paid for revivification that also was paid late last time. N22.127 billion was agreed also in that December agreement, to be paid from the supplementary budget as Earned Allowances for 2021, that plutocrat was also paid last time.
He stated that “ It was put in the supplementary budget which was passed around June-July and the plutocrat was remitted. So, the government has done that.”
On the controversial issue of introducing the University Translucency and Responsibility Result payment platform as preferred by ASUU rather of government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, the minister said the matter would be redefined.
“ UTAS, which the universities developed has been subordinated to test by the body responsible for that, Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), which ran a stoner acceptance test also called integrity and vulnerability test, but in their report, they refocused out to ASUU, the areas of setbacks in that platform, which won't make it usable as presently configured.
“ But ASUU has written back to NITDA to say that some of those compliances weren't correct,” he said.
According to Ngige, arrangements have now been concluded for the specialized brigades of NITDA and ASUU to meet and concertedly conduct or repeat the test on the UTAS platform, so as to find a result to the impasse.
(NAN)
