Posted on Mar 10, 2020
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has begun a two-week warning strike with effect from Tuesday.
Its National President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, announced this at end of the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT).
Ogunyemi said the strike is aimed at compelling the Federal Government to implement the agreement and resolution of a Memorandum of Action both parties reached under the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the 2017 Memorandum of Action (MoU).
Addressing reporters, the ASUU president said: “Following a comprehensive review of the state of Nigerian universities, we wish to draw the attention of all stakeholders to an impending crisis in the university system arising from non-remittance of third party deductions from the salaries of our members and non-payment of February 2020 salaries.”
He insisted on ASUU’s rejection of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
Ogunyemi said the union was worried that the government turned down its proposed platform, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS)
“ASUU has pointed out serious deficiencies inherent in IPPIS. We have talked of the widely reported fraud being perpetrated by the operators of IPPIS within and outside the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF).
“The National Assembly has acknowledged the monumental fraud in IPPIS when the AGF appeared before its Public Accounts Committee and could defend the auditors’ query.
“However, government, through its agents, remains adamant on compelling ASUU members to enrol into IPPIS,” he said.
The Federal Government yesterday described ASUU’s two–week warning strike as illegal.