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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has asked both the federal and state governments to immediately pay all the outstanding arrears of the withheld salaries of its members to pave way for further discussion on the issues that led to the declaration of indefinite strike on March 23, 2020.
National President of ASUU, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, at a news conference in Abuja on Tuesday also announced that its most touted Universities Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) was ready for integrity tests as requested by the federal government.
UTAS was developed by ASUU as an alternative to the Federal Government’s Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), which the Union rejected.
Ogunyemi disclosed that UTAS software was presented to the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu and other senior management of the Federal Ministry of Education, including Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, for government to subject the software to integrity tests.
The ASUU president lamented that five months’ salaries of members of the Union at the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) and the Michael Opara University of Agriculture were still being withheld by the Accountant-General of the Federation, allegedly on account of non-registration on IPPIS.
He maintained that ASUU would not be ready for further discussion on calling off the industrial action if the withheld salaries were not paid to the members, saying thousands of other academics across the universities are suffering same fate.
“While we counsel that government at both federal and state levels must meet the Presidential Task Force specified guidelines for reopening of educational institutions, we insist that all the arrears of the withheld salaries of our members in federal and state universities must be paid immediately to pave way for further discussion on the outstanding issues in the memorandum of action of February 7th 2019,” he said.
Ogunyemi stated that UTAS is more than just an alternative to IPPIS which does not respect the nature, structure and character of the Nigerian university system.
“We had always promised that ASUU would produce a robust software solution that would be sensitive to the uniqueness of the university system in addressing personnel information and payroll system, among other things.
“Following our engagements with the Federal Government over the issues that eventually led to the declaration of the ongoing strike action on March 17th 2020, the government declared that it “accepts in principle the
“University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), which is being developed by ASUU and its researchers for the financial administration of the University’s FG’s staff monthly payroll and accounting processes.
“In addition, the Federal Government pledged that when fully developed UTAS will be subjected to various integrity tests in order to verify its efficacy to see whether this final product will pass the necessary technical attribute test as specified by NITDA.” On our part, ASUU had given a timeframe of eighteen (18) months to the government to develop, test and deploy UTAS.
“In keeping with this promise, ASUU is pleased to announce that UTAS is now ready for the “integrity tests” required of it by government. Indeed, the software was unveiled by way of demonstration to the Minister and Senior Management Staff of the Ministry of Education, including the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), yesterday, August 17th 2020,” Ogunyemi added.
Speaking on the removal of Professor Toyin Ogundipe as University of Lagos (UNILAG) Vice Chancellor, Ogunyemi said ASUU rejected and condemned the decision of the institution’s governing council led by Dr Wale Babalakin (SAN) without due process, saying President Muhammadu Buhari as visitor to the university must act immediately to save the institution from the ongoing crisis.
He said: “ASUU fully supports the UNILAG Senate’s rejection of Dr Wake Babalakin-led Governing Council’s ill-informed decision to remove the Vice-Chancellor. We call on Mr President, as Visitor to University of Lagos, to immediately constitute a Special Visitation Panel to look into the immediate and remote causes of the events that led to the purported removal of Professor Oluwatoyin T Ogundipe as VC of UNILAG with a view to bringing all found culpable to book.”
He lamented the attitude of some vice chancellors who are deceiving and defrauding unsuspecting students and parents by pretending to keep the session running during the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Union embarked on an indefinite strike on March 23, 2020 over an attempt to force its members on the IPPIS platform and failure of the government to honour its 2009 agreement it entered with the union.