The Federal Government says it has accepted to accommodate the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) peculiarities allowance in the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information Payment System (IPPIS).
The acting Accountant General of the Federation, Okolieaboh Sylva, said this at a meeting of the union with the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, and the leadership of the House of Representatives in Abuja on Thursday.
Sylva said if there was a peculiarities allowance in ASUU’s pay, what needed to be done was to incorporate them in the platform, adding that the office of the AGF was willing to incorporate ASUU’s peculiarities.
“Let us sit down and know what these issues are and address them inside IPPIS. We can correct whatever mistake we make now, ” he said.
Sylva expressed reservation over ASUU’s insistence for the incorporation of the UTAS payment platform for its members, saying: “If we accept what ASUU is saying, it will create room for everyone to be asking for their own payment platform, the military is on IPPIS and health workers, ASUU should sit down with us and see the progress we have made.”
The acting AGF noted that the incorporation of ASUU’s peculiarities allowance on the IPPIS platform could be done without President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval, adding that there was nothing complicated about the issue once ASUU agreed to the offer.
“In the spirit of reconciliation, if ASUU knows what can be done, we are willing to adopt it to resolve this issue. It doesn’t make sense not to accept, let ASUU come to us, we are willing to accept.
“If we are going to adopt UTAS, that shows we are going to build the salaries of other civil servants to UTAS,” he said.
Speaking, Ngige, said the Federal Government will not offer ASUU what it does not have, noting that the ASUU leadership met with the President on January 9 with the hope of convincing the government to adopt its UTAS platform for lecturers’ salaries.
“I told Mr President to let us give it a trial and I took it upon myself, I went to NITDA and other agencies and we looked at the system,” he said.
Ngige said the three platforms brought by ASUU failed the integrity test, adding that he couldn’t recommend the adoption of any of them, “no matter the pressure”.
On his part, ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said it was unfortunate that Nigerians failed to understand how the university system operates.
Also speaking, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, appealed to ASUU to call off its ongoing strike.
He added that the executive had spoken, just as the judiciary, and the legislature.
“Everybody cannot be wrong. We are working according to everything we said in our last meeting, please in the interest of our children, we have called you in spite of the court ruling,” he said.
On the issue of UTAS, Gbajabiamila said the report was with the lawmakers.
The Speaker said: “We are more or less working for you. There comes a time when all conflicts come to an end. We will make our recommendation to the President.
“You have a very good case, the minister dropped a bombshell before he left but I didn’t pay attention. I understand your feelings and emotions.
“You are not doing it for yourself but the enabling environment and the future of our children. Please let’s take it and get to the final destination.”
