There appears to be hopes that the eight month old strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) would end soon.
After a seven-hour meeting on Friday, the Federal Government of Nigeria has agreed to exclude members of the ASUU from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Reading out the communique at the end of the negotiation with ASUU members in Abuja, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Mr Chris Ngige, said the government also agreed to ASUU’s demand to pay their members ’salary arrears from February to June through the old salary payment platform, Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System.
The government also offered to raise the Earned Allowances to university staff from N30 bn to N35 bn and the revitalization fund from N 20 bn to N 25 bn .
The government also offered the ASUU leadership representing university teachers N35 billion for Earned Academic Allowance and N25 billion for revitalisation.
In place of the IPPIS, lecturers would be temporarily paid through the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System) until ASUU’s University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) was ready for usage.
These are some of the agreements reached at the resumed meeting between the leadership of ASUU and the federal government team on Friday.
Ngige told reporters that the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) has offered to release N40 billion or in the alternative, N35 billion to be shared by all the registered Trade Unions in the universities after providing necessary evidence of having earned the allowance.
“The FG reiterated that her offer of N40 billion or 35 billion whichever is accepted by ASUU was for all the universities unions: ASUU had proposed that N40 billion be paid immediately for all unions,” the Minister said.
Ngige said all vice-chancellors are to submit details of the EAA/EA to the National Universities Commission (NUC) on or before November 30.
Speaking on the issue of withheld salaries, Ngige said the Federal Ministry of Labour and Federal Ministry of Education will review the issue of “no work, no pay” as stipulated in Section 43 of the Trade Disputes Act Cap T8 laws of the federation of Nigeria, 2004 with a view to getting approval for the withheld salaries to be paid.
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