The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will be meeting with the federal government on Tuesday (today) to discuss one of its demands.
The National President of the union, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said talks will centre on the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement both parties reached.
He was speaking on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television on Monday.
Prof. Osodeke disclosed that the government has agreed to deploy UTAS - preferred by ASUU - in the payment of lecturers’ salaries.
He berated the government for insincerity and for making it look like ASUU was only interested in the wages of its members.
“The government has reduced it to just salaries alone.
“But if they had looked at the whole agreement and implemented it, we will not be talking about funding,” he said.
The issue of IPPIS and UTAS has been put to rest. If the government agrees with us tomorrow, everything will be resolved. - ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke#PoliticsToday#CTVTweets pic.twitter.com/HE0vGPv0ap
— Channels Television (@channelstv) August 15, 2022
Prof. Osodeke assured Nigerians that ASUU will call off its 183-day-old strike if an agreement is reached on Tuesday.
The union’s last talks with the federal government were the renegotiation meeting led by Prof. Nimi Briggs in June.
ASUU has been on strike since February 14, disrupting the academic calendar of federal universities across Nigeria.
It is demanding:
- The release of revitalisation funds for universities, amounting to N1.1 trillion.
- The renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.
- The release of earned allowances for university lecturers.
- And the deployment of the UTAS payment platform for salaries and allowances of university lecturers.
