“ASUU strike would be called off soon”- Minister of Labour says

The strike has grounded students at home for four months.

The Federal Government has assured students that the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, which began on the 14th of February would be called off soon.

This was disclosed by the Honourable Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige shortly after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting held at the Council Chambers of the presidential villa and presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Despite four months into the strike already, Dr. Ngige assured Nigerians that efforts are being made to resolve the ongoing dispute between ASUU and the Federal Government.

According to the Minister, there are no intentions to establish an alternative payment platform for all the labour unions in Tertiary Institutions.

It should be recalled that the ongoing dispute between the Federal Government, ASUU and other Labour unions in universities has been largely fueled by payment platforms.

ASUU had insisted that its own generated payment platform, University Transparency and Accountability (UTAS) be used by the FG to make payments to staff under the union.

The union premised its demands on claims that the government-backed Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) was shortchanging its members.

However, the Federal Government claimed that UTAS failed three integrity and was unfit for wide-scale use.

Asides from ASUU’s proposal, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions (NASU) have also proposed their payment platform called the Peculiar Personnel Payroll System (PPPS).

Meanwhile, Ngige also told reporters that the government has summoned the relevant agencies such as the National Information Development Agency (NITDA), to give a progress report on resolving the issues that led to the undoing strike.

According to him, a meeting would be held on June 23 to examine the progress report by the relevant agencies to see how far they have gone with the integrity tests for the proposed platforms.

He also debunked claims that the Federal Government has been ignoring the pleas of ASUU and other academic bodies.