- Goong further stressed that ASUU cannot dictate how varsity lecturers should be paid their salaries.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has come under attack as the federal government described the condition set by the body before it can end its strike as "unreasonable."

It would be recalled that ASUU said it would end the strike action after its home-grown University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) has passed the federal government's integrity test.

Speaking in an interview with The Punch, the association's national leader and president, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, gave the assurance with questions popping up on when the lecturers will resume back to classrooms.

ASUU was expected to call off its strike and mandate lecturers to resume back to lecture rooms on Wednesday, October 21, after striking a unilateral agreement with the representatives of the federal government.

The federal government said the demand of ASUU is ridiculous. Credit: BBC Pidgin

But Ogunyemi said UTAS, which is a payment system developed by ASUU in place of the controversial Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), is still going through an integrity test handled by NITDA.

Reacting to the ASUU's stance, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Ben Goong, said ASUU's demand is ridiculous because varsity lecturers cannot determine how they should be paid by their employers which is the federal government.

"I don't know whether you know how many groups, organisations and associations receiving a salary from the federal account. So, if everybody is doing their own platform, imagine how many payment platforms government will have to deal with it."

Meanwhile, ASUU has raised an alarm over what the body termed as a deliberate attempt to strangulate public education in Nigeria.

Speaking during a Town and Gown meeting at the African Hall in the University of Ilorin, Kwara state, ASUU president Ogunyemi said the lecturers' body is being neglected by the federal government because "there were plans to make education inaccessible to the poor."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.legit.ng/amp/1378593-fg-slams-ASUU-using-utas-condition-strike.html

While Mr Ngige led the federal government's team, the President of ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi, led the representatives of the lecturers team.

Thursday’s conciliatory meeting aimed at putting an end to the strike action embarked upon by university lecturers has been adjourned to October 21.

The industrial action, which started over six months ago, is a major reason why universities are yet to resume after the easing of the COVID-19 lockdown.

The Thursday meeting was convened as a follow up to the previous meeting held with the Senate leadership on Tuesday, where the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, committed to engaging Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other stakeholders to iron out the outstanding issues.

While Mr Ngige led the federal government’s team, the President of ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi, led the representatives of the lecturers’ union.

Although Thursday’s meeting could not achieve the suspension of the strike, it concluded on the funding for revitalisation of public universities, according to a statement by the labour ministry.

“Government, in spite of the Economic downturn as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, brought an offer of N20 Billion (Twenty BillionNaira) layable by the end of January 2021and ASUU agreed to take the offer to its members for consideration..

According to the statement issued by the ministry of labour, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, will continue discussions with the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning on its earlier Memo to President Muhammadu Buhari on sources of alternative funding for the revitalization to facilitate the process of additional funding of the university system.

This is with a view to reactivating the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of 2013 as agreed in the Memorandum of Action (MoA) of 2019

On the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) rejected by the union, the meeting was informed that ASUU has met its timeline regarding the first stage of the initial demonstration of the efficacy of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) to government as this was done on Wednesday, October 14, 2020.

“The meeting also agreed that if UTAS passes all the different stages of the integrity test which would involve National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Office of the National Security Advisers (NSA) and after ascertaining its efficacy; it would be adopted for the payment of the University staff.”

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/421134-just-in-ASUU-fg-meeting-inconclusive-adjourned.html