ASUU vs FG: NITDA Exposes ASUU Over Breakdown in Negotiations
- The latest development has revealed that ASUU is responsible for the breakdown in reaching an accord with the federal government
- ASUU, who refused to switch to the IPPIS payment method, is said to have stalled progress in upgrading its own most preferred payment platform known as UTAS
- As it stands, the federal government is not willing to compromise, insisting that ASUU will have to upgrade the UTAS payment platform
Revelations have begun to unravel why the ongoing warning strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has not been called off.
PRNigeria reports that the ongoing nationwide strike by ASUU has continued because of the association's inability to upgrade its payment platform known as the Universities Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS).
Source: Facebook
The UTAS payment platform was the existing payment platform used by members of the association before the emergence of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS).
The federal government initially recommended the IPPIS, but ASUU vehemently fought against it, insisting that it will maintain the already existing UTAS payment platform.
PAY ATTENTION: Subscribe to Digital Talk newsletter to receive must-know business stories and succeed BIG!
It was said that the Universities Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) failed an integrity test, which led to the federal government urging ASUU to upgrade it legit.ng gathered.
Recall that ASUU and the federal government have held a series of negotiations over its N1.3 trillion demand for tertiary institution reforms.
Disclosing this development, the director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa said that the UTAS payment platform failed integrity tests after undergoing screening.
Also reacting to the issue, the minister of communications and digital economy, Isa Pantami, affirmed that NITDA had conducted an integrity test on UTAS.
He said:
“NITDA conducted their own analysis, their own testing and sent same back to me, and I drafted a cover letter I forwarded to the Minister of Labour and Employment, and I copied the two Ministers of Education, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, and also office of the Accountant General of the Federation and even NUC (National University Commission).”
ASUU declares one month warning strike
Recall that ASUU had resorted to commencing a one-month nationwide strike after failing to reach an agreement with the federal government.
Legit.ng reported that negotiations between both parties broke down on Monday, February 14, after a long session of negotiation.
This decision left the minister for labour, Chris Ngige, in a difficult situation to deal with.
ASUU strike: stream of students take over Lagos/Ibadan expressway to protest
In another development, streams of students were seen all over the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway on Tuesday, March 8, protesting.
It was gathered that the protest was due to the ongoing nationwide ASUU strike and fuel scarcity in the country.
The protest was said to have been staged by the southwest zone of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).
Source: Legit.ng
