The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU has threatened to resume its strike action over the failure of the Nigerian Government to honour agreements they reached with the union.
It will be recalled that ASUU went on strike for several months last year until December 2020 when it suspended the action after getting commitments from the federal government.
However, recent developments indicate that the strike action may be re-activated. Chairman of ASUU, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Dr. Inuwa Ibrahim made this known while addressing pressmen recently.
He said: “Renegotiation of the 2009 agreement which would have been completed within eight weeks from the date of inauguration of the committee has up till now not been concluded, even though the Committee was inaugurated since December 2020.”
“The Federal Government of Nigeria willingly agreed that the UTAS will replace the IPPIS as a payment platform in Federal Universities after it passed an integrity test. However, soon after the agreement, agents of the FGN are doing everything possible to frustrate the coming of UTAS onboard.”
“Meanwhile the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation through the IPPIS office have continued to omit our members from payment of salaries while others experience serious salary amputation. We are convinced this is done in connivance with the University Administration through the distortion of our members’ personal details.”
“In the meantime, IPPIS appears to be the corruption headquarters of the Federal Civil service, as exemplified by double payment of salaries to employees, payment of salaries to non-employees, over taxation, dubious amputation of salaries, etc.”
He alleged that the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation was deliberately omitting names of its members from payment of salaries as a means of coercion to enrol ASUU members in IPPIs.
“Enough is enough. ASUU is fed up with deceptive antics of the federal government of Nigeria.”
“The University Campuses are becoming restive across the length and breadth as Academics are threatening to shut down activities once again. This is coming as a result of the failure of the FGN to implement many aspects of the memorandum of Action it willingly signed with ASUU that ended the last strike in December, 2020.”
“Given the glaring and deliberate failure of Government to honour the agreement it willingly signed with the Union, it is becoming obvious that industrial harmony is gradually being destroyed in the University Campuses.”, he said.
