Leadership of ASUU Yola Zone in a group photograph with some officials of NUJ Adamawa State
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Yola Zone has cautioned Federal Government against dishing out falsehood and blackmailing the Union because of its refusal to enroll into the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
The Union further advised the government to address 5 issues as contained in the Memorandum of Action (MOA) it freely signed with the Union on the 7th February, 2019.
The Zonal Coordinator of the Union, Professor Augustine A. Ndaghu, gave the advice while addressing newsmen at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on Friday.
According to the Coordinator, the Zone met at MAUTECH Yola on Thursday 5th November, 2020 and resolved to grant the press conference to bring to light why the Union is still on strike action.
Prof Augustine explained that Yola ASUU comprises Adamawa State University(ADSU) Mubi, Federal University Gashua(FUGA), Modibbo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH) Yola, Taraba State University (TSU) Jalingo, University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) and Yobe State University (YSU) Damaturu.
He told newsmen that the Union has resumed the current industrial action after an emergency National Executive Council(NEC) meeting held at the University of Abuja on the 23rd March, 2020 to compel the FGN to implement the Memorandum of Action (MOA) it freely signed with the Union.
He said that the MOA is meant to be a pathway to address 5 issues in dispute including; revitalisation fund for public universities, constitution of visitation panels to federal universities, renegotiation of the 2009 FGN -ASUU agreement, payment of arrears of Earned Academic Allowances and proliferation of state universities and governance issues in them.
According to him, all the items had timelines attached to them as promised by the government when the MOA was signed, saying that as at now the timelines have elapsed for most of the items.
He lamented that the strike action is in its 8 month now and yet the FGN has not shown concrete commitment to address the issues in dispute, saying instead of addressing it, the government functionaries are busy propagating falsehood and blackmailing the Union.
The Union said it is apparent that the government is not keen about the survival of public education system, explaining that it appears the government had since retracted and had gone back to the usual approach of "let's keep ASUU talking syndrome" without clear evidence or genuine desire to address the substance.
On the issue of Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), Prof Augustine clarified that the IPPIS is not the reason why the Union is currently on strike, insisting that they are on strike because of government's unwillingness to honour the 2019 MOA to address 5 issues in contention.
He pointed out that IPPIS is a distraction plunged by the government in the wheel of progress of smooth resolution of the contentious issues, adding that ASUU rejected IPPIS on good grounds upon its first introduction into the Federal Universities in 2013-2014.
The IPPIS has violated the autonomy of University Miscellaneous Act of 2003 and at the same time failed to address and or capture the peculiarities of the University System( contract, sabbatical and visiting staff, staff suspension among other peculiarities of the university system).
Prof Augustine informed newsmen that the government had challenged them to develop alternative to IPPIS since it said to be foreign in nature, saying that the Union went on and developed a better alternative known as University Transparency and Accountability Solutions (UTAS).
UTAS, according to him, has captured all agreements ASUU had entered with the government and peculiarities of the university system, and called on the government to adopt it if really it is interested in a payment platform that is corruption free.
He disclosed that their salaries are deliberately withheld by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation for 5 months now simply because of their refusal to enroll into IPPIS, a platform they are sure that will destroy public universities.
Professor Augustine A. Ndaghu insisted further that they will not enroll into IPPIS, and urged the government to as a matter of urgency pay the members of the union using any means but IPPIS.
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