Strike: ASUU set to hold NEC meeting on Sunday

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will hold its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on Sunday to assess the ongoing strike “to know the next course of action to take”.

The president of the union, Emmanuel Osodeke, professor of soil sciences, who confirmed it on the telephone to our journalist on Saturday, did not, however, give details of the planned meeting.

However, a source among NEC members, who does not want to be named to avoid sanctions, said the meeting would be held in Abuja.

About UTAS

Mr Osodeke has chastised the Nigerian government for its recent revelation that the University Transparency and Accountability Solutions (UTAS) developed by the union to replace the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) had failed tests. ‘integrity.

He said that UTAS is currently undergoing another round of tests, saying that the previous tests were not subject to the particularity of the universities.

The Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, had noted UTAS failed three integrity tests – User Acceptance Test, Vulnerability Test and Stress Test, which were conducted by its agency.

He said; “We did these three tests with them and the system did not pass. We drafted the reports and handed them over to the Honorable Minister, which he forwarded to all relevant institutions, including ASUU. As we speak, ASUU is working, trying to fix all the issues we have highlighted with the system and we will review it. But that’s only half the story.

But Mr Osodeke accused the government of lying. He said UTAS passed between 77 and 85%, adding that “you can’t say that software that scored close to 80% failed.”

He said: “Also we found out that during the tests they didn’t look at the particularity of the universities, which we explained in the meeting we had between Thursday and yesterday (Friday).

“They said they wanted to do the test again because what they had done before was not correct. Those who did it did not know the particularities of the universities, what they are doing now. And at the moment where they are through, you will get an appropriate report.

“Our technical team is now there with them. They are there with observers from the Department of Education, Labor, Accountant General, Wage and Salary Commission. Before, they weren’t there. They just did it by themselves.

Renegotiation

Speaking on the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, the union president said the three months given to the renegotiation committee was not for the ASUU, adding that the government had not yet contacted the union at subject of the new development.

He said, “I don’t think the three months are for ASUU. If you look closely at the terms of reference, the three months are for the other unions, not for ASUU, because we are done with the renegotiation.

READ ALSO : Strike: ASUU says there will be no resumption until 2009 agreement is implemented

“They’re just supposed to go see the document. If there are any problems, they come back to us. These three months, I don’t believe are for ASUU. We hope they will contact us. This is one of the issues we talk about.

“The strike is now in its fourth week, but they haven’t answered us on these issues, that’s why we have problems in the system. The government is not doing its own job”

Earlier in the week, Education Minister Adamu Adamu gave a three month window to the seven-man committee led by Nimi Briggs to review the draft document and renegotiate the 2009 agreement between the government and university worker unions, including ASUU, the National Association of University Technologists (NAAT), the Association of Senior Universities of Nigeria (SSANU) and the Union of Non-Academic Staff of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU).

Speaking earlier on the position of the union’s NEC, ASUU Lagos Zone Coordinator Adelaja Odukoya said, “NEC is very clear on its position regarding the terms of service. He said that until this is resolved and the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) in the university system is achieved, the strike will continue.

Pass

The ASUU strike, now in its fourth week, was launched to pressurize some claims it accuses the government of failing to deliver on its promises.

After several meetings, the main outcome was the meeting last week where ASUU agreed to present the government’s proposal to its members.

However, PREMIUM TIMES learned that the two most important requests that could put out the fire of the strike were the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and ASUU on the working conditions of Nigerian academics and the deployment of UTAS to replace the Integrated Labor Information System. payroll (IPPIS) imposed on universities by the government.

Other demands include payment of earned academic allowances, the university revitalization fund, distortions in salary payments, funding for state universities, and the publication of white papers on visitor signs sent to universities.

Although the Minister of Education has published the names of the teams to write the white papers according to the reports of the visiting committees, the government has not yet inaugurated them to begin work nearly four weeks later.


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