The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has finally agreed to call off its eight-month strike.
This was disclosed by ASUU via its Twitter handle on Friday, after its meeting with the Federal Government’s team led by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige.
It tweeted: “The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has shifted ground on FG’s offer. The Union insisted that payment of outstanding salaries must not be done as through the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, (IPPIS), platform as promised, if strike would be suspended”.
According to reports, the FG also promised to pay N40 billion as the earned allowance and N30bn for the revitalisation of the university system, bringing the total payment to N70 billion and also promised to settle the arrears of salaries of the lecturers before December 31st.
This is coming a week after the government agreed to exempt ASUU members from the IPPIS pending the approval of their proposed payment system, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.
However, ASUU strike won’t be called-off until after the union meets with its organs to communicate its agreement with the government. Prior to ASUU’s shifting ground on the FG’s offer, the Union had insisted that payment of outstanding salaries must not be done as through IPPIS platform as promised, if strike would be suspended.
While addressing journalists after the meeting, Ngige said the parley as fruitful, adding that the government made a proposal to the union to take back to its members. ASUU President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi said everything Ngige said was correct. He, however, refused to make further comment about the meeting with the FG.
