ASUU says its agreement on IPPIS is interim
The Academic Staff Union of the Universities (ASUU) has says the agreement to be paid through the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) was an interim arrangement.
The President of the Union Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, stated this during a meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Accountant General for the Federation.
This according to the ASUU president is because IPPIS could not accommodate the union peculiarities demand.
According to him, the union would revert to its demand to be paid through the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), adding that what the union agreed on UTAs and IPPIS was a temporary measure.
“There is no way IPPIS can represent the universities, the greatest problem university has is funding. No university can invest again because of Treasury Single Account(TSA).”
He said the union called off the strike based on trust, adding that the country’s education was in dire need of human resources.
The accountant general of the federation, Mr Sylva OkolieabohHe called for a comprehensive peculiarities list of ASUU, assuring that in three months the issues would be cleared.
He said contrary to insinuation by ASUU, IPPIS was designed locally by Oracle and remained the best at the moment, adding that whatever agreement it had with oracle was a normal agreement.
He appealed to the union to trust executive and let the issue be laid to rest, assuring that IPPIS will live up to expectation.
“We will sit down with ASUU and look at what could be done and the material peculiarities that ASUU was complaining about.
The speaker, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, said it was up to ASUU to submit its peculiarities to the AoGF so that the issue could be addressed immediately.
On the issue of funding, the Speaker said the union’s fear had been addressee in the budget, adding that about 500billion was included for ASUU in the budget.
The speaker however demanded for a timeline that would be acceptable to ASUU to accommodate the peculiarities of ASUU on the IPPIS.
He pleaded with the union to let bygone be bygone, adding that by January and February the AGF had promised that everything would be sorted.
Gabjabiamila said the House would be having a summit on universities with critical stakeholders next month and that all the issues raised by ASUU as to funding were slated to be addressed for a long term solution.
Radio Nigeria