Pascal Arogorn Ibe
The ongoing dialogue between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities will continue on Wednesday to enable the leadership to consult their organs on the conclusions reached at Thursday’ s meeting .
The parley was convened to resolve the lingering issues that led to the strike by the university lecturers.
The government has made some offers and commitments during the meeting which ASUU agreed to take back to their members for consideration.
Presenting the outcome of the meeting, the Minister of Labour and Employment , Dr Chris Ngige, said that the government had pledged to pay N 40 billion , being the pending Earned Academic Allowance of the university teachers .
He explained that out of that amount, N 30bn would be paid on or before November 6, while the remaining N 10b would be spread equally over two tranches to be paid on May 2021 and February 2022.
A statement on Friday by the Ministry of Labour and Employment spokesman , Mr Charles Akpan , quoted Ngige to have said that the government ’ s commitment to pay was in response to “ the demand by ASUU for the payment of two tranches of EEA which cumulate to N 40 billion that has become overdue since November , 2019. ”
Though the Federal Government agreed to fulfil its financial obligations to ASUU members , particularly outstanding salaries and earned allowances, the parties could not agree on the mode of payment.
The statement said , “ The government side appealed to ASUU to enrol on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System platform in the meantime , and migrate back to the University Transparency and Accountability Solution after its efficacy had been proven through the necessary integrity tests . The union refused , insisting on being exempted from IPPIS . ”
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