By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) Chapter has threatened to join the ASUU National Secretariat planned nation wide strike if the Federal Government do not implement the negotiations jointly signed by both the Federal Government and ASUU National officials.
The UNIMAID ASUU Chapter rose from its 15th December 2021 congress with a unanimous resolution to abide by the outcome of the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting , emphatically stating that “notwithstanding the payments of the EAA and Revitalization Fund to universities, the union will not call off the strike action until and unless all issues in dispute are resolved conclusively and the union’s demands are met including the re-negotiation of the 2009 Agreement and Implementation of the 2020 MoU”.
The ASUU Chairman, University of Maiduguri Chapter, Dr. Abubakar Mshelia Saidu stated this on Thursday at a press conference with journalists at the ASUU Secretariat of the institution.
He said: “This is a painful decision for the union given the implications to teaching, learning and research in our universities. It is the only decision left for the union because all attempts to persuade the government to amicably resolve the issues in dispute have not yielded any positive outcome”
According to him, the Federal Government introduced a very problematic and unsuitable Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and included universities in the payment platform, unfortunately since the operation of the IPPIS, Nigerian Universities have not been the same and witnessed unprecedented problems in its payments and accounting systems which have retarded its development.
Describing the development as worrisome and unhealthy, the ASUU Chairman said: “the benefit of hindsight, IPPIS is the most corruption driven and inefficient payment platform ever introduced in the country”, stressing that, given its deep concern about the failure of IPPIS and its negative impact on staff and the university system, ASUU developed an alternative called University Transparency and Accountability Solutions (UTAS) which was presented to the president over a year ago and has been subjected to integrity tests by relevant units of government and found to be the best for the Universities.
Dr. Abubakar said ,” however, government has refused to adopt this well-thought alternative to IPPIS out of ego, empty pride and perhaps corruption, which is sustained by IPPIS. This is one major area of concern for the union and its members and must be resolved immediately”.
On the issue of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) which has been lingering for a very long time now, the ASUU Chairman, noted that almost all Nigerian Universities are short of required academic staff, particularly, at the professorial level. As a result, most universities have not been able to meet up with the NUC’s bench work on staff , especially, on the staff /students ratio.
He said FG has failed to pay academic staff the EAA until the union confronted it and was part of the MoU signed in 2920 but unfortunately, government has not been able to meet its obligations in this matter but was laying lip services and making paltry payments to deceive gullible Nigerians.
The Chairman lamented over the deteriorating conditions of public universities which has reached a very unacceptable level , pointing out that, most of the infrastructures have been decayed, the universities lack adequate modern facilities that will promote teaching, learning and research.
He also urged the general public not to be deceived by the figures of billions of naira mentioned by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige or other government officials, stressing that, they represent only a fraction of the minimum of what the FG is expected to give to the Universities to make them globally competitive and only 16.63 billion as EAA disbursement goes directly to our members across the nations’s federal public universities.
He however, urged parents and guardians as well as students to continue to understand and support the genuine efforts of the union to save public universities from total collapse while commending the members for their patience, understanding and continuous loyalty to the union.
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