BY AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
Following the indication by the Academic Staff Union of Universities that it may soon embark on a fresh strike in view of the non payment of the agreed N22.1 billion earned allowance, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has summoned the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu; and the ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osedeke, to an emergency meeting on Thursday, November 18.
ASUU had given the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum over the failure by the latter to implement the agreement reached with the union.
The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, was reported to have said that the union failed to submit a breakdown of the workers entitled to the N22.1billion earned allowances.
The ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said during a press briefing at the University of Abuja that the Federal Government failed to honour the agreement it signed with the union.
The strike embarked upon in March 2020 by ASUU over the ineffectiveness and discrepancies around the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System and others, was called off nine months after, in December 2020.
As a way of reaching a compromise on the logjam, ASUU developed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution to replace the IPPIS and held series of meetings with the ministries of Finance, Education, Labour and Employment, and the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
The ASUU proposal was approved, but has yet to be implemented.
The union has, however, said that unless the Federal Government honours the signed agreement, it would embark on a fresh strike.
