Hopes dashed, strike continues as FG’s meeting with university workers ends in deadlock
- The FG's efforts to ensure the striking university workers, SSANU and NASU, return to work have proved abortive
- This is as the meeting between the labour minister and the workers' representatives ended in a deadlock
- The striking varsity workers want the FG to delist them from IPPIS, pay minimum wage arrears, among other demands
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The latest meeting between the federal government and the university workers has ended in a deadlock, according to a Channels TV report.
The minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, had met with the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities in a bid to address their demands.
Legit.ng gathers that it was the second meeting the minister had with the striking university workers, in an attempt to resolve the issues leading to the labour unrest in the universities.
Source: Twitter
It was learnt that the minister argued the industrial action by the two unions was illegal and unknown to labour laws.
The striking workers had accused the Nigerian government of failing to address their critical demands.
The demands
1. Unpaid earned allowances of members
2. Delisting of members from the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS)
3. Payment of arrears of the new minimum wage.
With the federal government's failure to address the demands, the joint action committee of SSANU and NASU on Friday, February 5, directed all their members to down tools pending when the government takes appropriate actions.
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IPPIS is a scam
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the IPPIS used by the federal government to pay staff members of universities in Nigeria and other public servants had been described as a scam.
Wailing over the allegedly fraudulent system, the chairman of NASU in the University of Lagos, Kehinde Ajibade, said the government deceived the union into the agreement.
Speaking on Wednesday, February 10, Ajibade said the IPPIS is very faulty because through it the government shortchanges its members and makes unexplainable deductions from their salaries.
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Nurudeen Lawal is a Legit.ng journalist passionate about fact-checking/verification journalism. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature-in-English from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. As Politics Editor, Nurudeen mostly writes on Nigeria’s political and socio-economic developments. He has attended different workshops, conferences and training on fact-checking and digital reporting, among others. Learn more about him on Twitter, @Nurudeen Lawal_
Source: Legit.ng
