The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has warned the Federal Government of a possible strike action in the very near future if its demands are not met.
ASUU says it can no longer guarantee the industrial harmony in public universities due to the inability of the Government to honor the agreements reached with the Union last February.
The Abuja Zonal Coordinator of ASUU Dr. Salahu Muhammad Lawal who stated this while briefing newsmen at the University of Abuja said the Union had signed a Memorandum of Action (MOA) with the Government which led to the suspension of the 2020 strike action in February 2021 and still yet to be implemented by the Government.
According to Dr. Lawal, the major demands of ASUU includes:
- The immediate deployment of ASUU’s University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) payment system.
- Payment of outstanding Earn Academic Allowances (EAA) to members.
- The signing into law of the draft renegotiated 2009 agreement.
- The release of revitalization fund to public Universities.
- Immediate action on the report of the Presidential Visitation Panels to federal universities.
- Implementation of recommendations of the committee on States Universities.
“You would recall that our Union signed an MOA with the federal Government leading to the suspension of the 2020 strike action in February 2021, almost Nine months after, the Government has again relented on its promises to the Union and the Nation. ASUU is again calling on the Government to honor its promises to the Nigerian people and the immediate deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution UTAS, the signing into law of the draft renegotiated 2009 agreement and the release of revitalization fund to public Universities.”
He also called for the immediate action on the report of the Presidential visitation Panels to federal Universities and without any delay act on the recommendations of the committee on States Universities.
UTAS is ASUU’s innovational and more robust system of human resource management and compensation which was developed as a replacement for the Government’s Integrated Personnel Payment Information System (IPPIS) which the Academic Union refused to join.