The Federal Government has said it would provide about N34 billion on the ongoing payment of minimum wage adjustments to workers in the education sector from 2019.
In a statement by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the beneficiaries of this adjustment would include members of the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and their colleagues in Colleges of Education and Polytechnics.
Senator Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, revealed this while being interviewed by Labour correspondents in Abuja on the unending ASUU strike.
Ngige said universities would get N23.5b, polytechnics N6b, and Colleges of Education N4b, amounting to an estimated N34b.
The minister also mentioned that the committees set up during the last tripartite-plus meeting with university-based unions were given a fortnight deadline to turn in their reports and that the reports were being expected this weekend.
“Those committees are working. The one on NITDA is testing the three platforms: the government’s Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) of ASUU, and the Universities Peculiar Personnel Payroll System (UPPPS) of the non-teaching staff,” Ngige said.
“They started the testing last Thursday. The National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC) have issued their amendment circulars. The unions also have copies to take care of responsibility and hazard allowance wherever it has not been properly captured.”
The minister also used the opportunity to appeal to ASUU and other university-based unions to suspend their strike.
