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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has again explained why its seven-month-old strike has not come to an end, despite many meetings with the federal government on the crisis.
The union accused the federal government of insincerity, saying it has “shamefully resorted to blackmail, intimidation and propagation of falsehood to the public instead of making a sincere effort at resolving the lingering crisis.”
The union’s explanation was contained in a statement issued on Monday by its Lagos Zone and signed by the Zonal Coordinator, Olusiji Sowande.
According to the statement, the contending issues include government’s reluctance to fulfil the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement bordering on the provision of funds for the revitalisation of dilapidated infrastructure (hostel accommodation, befitting lecture theatres, state-of-the-art laboratories and good working environment for lecturers).
It said it also includes payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), setting up of visitation panels for the purpose of accountability and good governance of our public universities.
Mr Sowande said arresting the trend of proliferation of universities at both federal and state levels, while neglecting the funding of existing ones and the renegotiation of 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement.
Mr Sowande said the issue of enrolment of university teachers into the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) was deliberately introduced by the government “to draw away the attention of the public from the insincerity, lack of interest and disregard for the education of the teeming Nigerian youth, especially university students.”
Speaking on Unpaid Salaries,
Mr Sowande said the government is withholding the salaries of its members and the check-off dues of the union as a war strategy to weaken the union’s resolution.
According to him, it is in the course of the strike and the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic that the salaries of their members in federal universities were withheld by the government under the guise that members did not enrol on IPPIS.
The Zonal Coordinator further informed that government is owing their members the arrears of unpaid full salaries in all federal universities from July 2020 to October 2020 (four months); arrears of unpaid salaries to some members in University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture (MOUAU) and some Federal Universities from February 2020 to June 2020 (five months).
He alleged a high level of fraud by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF); “a self-acclaimed apostle of anti-corruption, and the Ministry of Finance.
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