The Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) has declared its intention to embark on another industrial action.
According to Ripples Nigeria, Asuu said the union is contemplating this decision because of the alleged refusal of the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris to pay the salaries and remittance of check-off dues of over 1000 of its staff for over 13 months now.
The ASUU chairman Lazarus Maigoro from the University of Jos made this disclosure via a press statement in Plateau state.
Maigoro accused the AGF of not honouring the agreement made between the union and the federal government.
As a result of this failure on the part of the government, another round of strike action will happen, which may spell doom for the education sector.
The Chairman had strongly urged the Federal Government to hold up its own end of the bargain, so as to avoid another potential shutdown of the tertiary education sector in the country.
He further states that despite the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to quickly effect the immediate payments of salaries of lecturers, coupled with the signing of the 2020 MoA.
The AGF has been adamant and still insisting that the lecturers must go to Abuja and register with the IPPIS.
Maigoro said, “Mr Ahmed Idris, from all intent and purposes, is bent on withholding the salaries of over 1,000 members of ASUU spread across the country with more than 100 of such lecturers being members of our Branch in University of Jos.”
He added that “the more worrisome fact is that while the AGF is refusing to pay these salaries, his staff in the OAGF are busy calling the affected lecturers and insisting they have to register with IPPIS before they are paid, some are even asked to forfeit a part of their salaries in order to be paid’’ So it is very clear that this is a deliberate act on the part of the AGF and his staff.”
The Nigerian educational sector is still recovering from the resumption of tertiary institutions after activities were crippled due to a year-long strike.
ASUU embarked on a nationwide industrial action on March 23, 2020, following its dispute with the Federal Government over their insistence on the implementation of the IPPIS in the payment of university lecturers’ salaries and allowances, as against the ASUU developed homegrown payment platform.
