Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU,) will resume talks on Friday, to end the prolonged strike action in public universities in Nigeria.
Spokesman of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Charles Akpan, who made this known in a text message on Wednesday, said that the dialogue with the ASUU leaders would hold at the minister’s conference hall.
Top on the agenda of the resumed meeting will be pending issues, including the contentious payment platform University Transparency and Accountability Solution(UTAS)preferred by the union.
Edu-Biznews recalled both the government and ASUU had been at loggerhead over the payment platform while the government insisted on using its Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System(IPPIS), which the union strongly rejected.
The Federal Government said that there was no budgetary provision in the 2021 budget proposal for the purchase of the hardware to make the University Transparency and Accountability Solution(UTAS) functional
UTAS is currently undergoing test-run by the National Information Technology Development Agency.
Also other unions in the University system including the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union who complained of salary delays and shortchange in the payment of their salaries, proposed another payment platform, the University General and Peculiar Personnel and Payroll System to replace IPPIS.
According to government, the issues of payment of Earned Allowance had been resolved with agreement to pay N30 billion Earned Academic Allowance, N20 billion for the revitalization of the education sector and the arrears of salaries to the university lecturers.
Government added that the only outstanding issue was the disagreement over the payment platform but ASUU disagreed sharply, saying that the government has not met all its demands.
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