Disquiet over government’s alleged failure to honour agreement with ASUU

*The Federal Government made some promises before the ASUU protracted strike was suspended, but the current administration has failed to honour its part of the bargain, says Dr. Dele Ashiru, Chairman, UNILAG Chapter of ASUU

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

The Nigerian University teachers, yet again, have accused the Federal Government of defaulting on the agreement the latter reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) barely two weeks after suspending their nine-month strike in 2020.

In a statement, the dons said the government was yet to pay their December salaries, while “illegal” deductions were still to be refunded in the process.

The academic union stated that the government had “again failed to honour its agreement on payment of not only outstanding salaries of members ranging from five to eight months; Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) and check off dues illegally deducted before December 31, 2020.”

It is recalled the lecturers had embarked on strike in March 2020 over government’s refusal to honour the agreement reached with ASUU in 2009.

ConsumerConnect reports that agreement was hinged on the country’s university revitalisation, improved funding and infrastructure development.

ASUU had also protested against the Federal Government’s introduction of an alternative payment platform, Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), insisting the initiative was at variance with University autonomy, and therefore, directed members to not enrol on the contentious platform.

However, the Union conditionally suspended the industrial action, after the intervention of stakeholders and government’s directive to suspend implementation of the controversial IPPIS for lecturers.

Dr. Dele Ashiru, Chairman, University of Lagos (UNILAG) Chapter of ASUU, stated that successive administrations have always failed to honour agreements with the union, The Guardian report said.

Ashiru, who maintained that the government made some promises before the protracted strike was suspended, regretted that the current administration has allegedly failed to its part of the bargain.

He said: “For instance, the government failed to pay members’ illegally deducted salaries before December 31, 2020, and as of January 3, we are yet to receive December 2020 salaries.

“Government promised to refund our illegally deducted check-off dues before December 31, 2020, but that has not been done as we speak.

“They promised to credit the Earned Academic Allowances account before December 31 and that also has not been done.”

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