FG Vows To Resolve ASUU Issues In Three Months

• FG vows to resolve ASUU issues in three months
• The Federal Government through the office of the Accountant General of the Federation has promised to resolve all payment issues within three months
• The union and the Government will reach a conclusion soon on the IPPIS-UTAS merger
• ASUU however says they called off the strike based on trust in the Federal Government and the establishment of temporary measures on the use of IPPIS/UTAS

The Federal Government has vowed to resolve all the issues surrounding the payment of University staff within the space of three months. This was disclosed by the Acting Accountant General of the Federation, Silvia Okoliaboh during a meeting with the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila on Monday.

The meeting was a follow-up on the agreements reached at the recent meetings held before the suspension of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike recently.

Okoliaboh maintained that the Government would rectify the challenges in the proposed merger of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and the University Transparency Accountability System (UTAS). He also said that a formal letter addressing the issue would be sent out today.

The Acting Accountant General also assured ASUU that IPPIS is a credible platform that has been known to work over the years, adding that the union can employ experts to verify the claims.

He said: “There is really nothing complicated about it. I believe ASUU has ICT experts and they know that you can virtually do anything. It’s a matter of can you do what you want?

“And I have made this commitment and I repeat it that we in the Accountant General office are going to accommodate all the legitimate peculiarities of ASUU and the university community. That’s just the way to go. The challenge is if you allow ASUU to have their own, you are going have the Colleges of Education, universities of educational, polytechnic, unity schools, everybody is going to come with their own and Mr. Speaker, I think we just have to agree that it is a way to go.

“We will sit down together, look at all the issues we have, we list them, as we are address them, we are ticking them. We are not going to ask you to accept until you are sure we have addressed them.

Okoliaboh therefore called on ASUU to lay the issue to rest so as to allow peace reign in Nigerian universities. He however assured the union and the general public that the Federal Government would continue payment to the union because they understand the need for it.

We Called off the Strike Because We Trusted The Government- ASUU

Meanwhile, ASUU, through its president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke disclosed at the meeting that the union called off the eight-month-old industrial action based on trust in the Federal Government.

He said: “We didn’t reach full understanding before we called off the strike because we did that on trust. We have really signed documents that address all the issues but since we are talking about this now, I think, it is a small thing.

“What we agreed on the issue of UTAS and IPPIS is a temporary measure because for a country like Nigerian, if we are really patriotic and we love this country; if there is a problem in payment, you challenge your university to develop a program for you.

“We have agreed on that (IPPIS) as an interim measure, hopefully, subsequently, we will look for how to solve this problem once and for all. IPPIS has not solved problem. It has created more problems if you want to challenge us, check the wage bill before IPPIS was introduced and check the wage bill now. We are willing and have set up our team.”

The Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila however dismissed his claims, stating that the agreement was not reached on temporary basis.