The outcome of the meeting between the FG and the ASUU members on November 20th, 2020 has been disclosed. Recall that we earlier brought you a report that FG has fixed a meeting with ASUU towards finding a solution to end the lingering strike action. We have brought you the outcome of the meeting. See details below;
At the end of the meeting the two parties arrived at the following;
1. For the payment of the Earned Allowance, the federal government, offered a total sum of N65 billion to Nigerian universities to address some of its demands. The money seeks to address the issue of earned allowances and ” revitalization of universities”.
2. All vice-chancellors are to submit details of the ‘EAA/EA’ to the National Universities Commission (NUC ) ”on or before November 30.”
3. On the issue of IPPIS, the government said that the use of IPPIS will be suspended until the integrity test is fully carried out on the UTAS which is the payment platform ASUU preferred the government to use in paying salaries to lecturers.
4. On the issue of withheld salaries, Mr Ngige said the ministries of labour and 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. He said the lecturers will also be paid on the old payment platform pending the time when all issues are resolved
5. Reacting to this, the National President of ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi, said ”ASUU will take the new offer to its members.” We will give the government our response by next week after discussing with our members,” he said.
Conclusion
Considering the fact that the government has decided to shift grounds, we expect ASUU to do the same. If that happens, the ASUU strike will likely be called off next week.
