President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday, met with the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
This came as the Federal Government said that about 70 percent of members of ASUU, had enrolled in the government`s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, despite the opposition by the union’s leadership.
ASUU had opposed the IPPIS policy of the government and had threatened to down tools if the government stops the payment of salaries of its members, who refused to enroll, claiming that it was against the university autonomy law.
The union has meanwhile, expressed its readiness for dialogue with the government as it proposed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as an alternative to the government’s centralised payroll system of IPPIS.
After the meeting which was attended by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, Minister of Education Adamu Adamu and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, ASUU leadership led by its President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, declined comment.
Investigation revealed that the meeting was at the instance of the university lecturers, who have resisted enrollment in the IPPIS.
Buhari had ordered the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning to stop the payment of salaries of Federal Government workers, including members of ASUU, who failed to enroll in the IPPIS platform by October 31, 2019.
The government later extended the deadline to November 30, 2019.
A source at the meeting revealed that the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, disclosed that over 90,000 out of about 130,000 university lecturers had enrolled in the IPPIS, stressing that the number of ASUU members yet to register was less than 30 percent.
The source further revealed that the issue of N25 billion Academic Earned Allowances was also tabled at the meeting.
