By Judith Ufford
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has blamed the Federal Government for frustrating efforts to resolve issues that resulted in the ongoing strike embarked upon by the lecturers.
ASUU National President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi disclosed this during a Channels Television programme, Politics Today.
Ogunyemi claimed that the Federal Government has refused to take the necessary steps in addressing the strike action.
According to him, the delay in adopting ASUU’s preferred platform, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), is one of the major reasons the strike has not been suspended.
He said : “The strike is still on as a result of the Federal Government not taking the necessary steps. We gave them two weeks to address our five points demands.
“We engaged the government but they were not forthcoming. They had a whole year to address those issues. They gave us positions that were not acceptable to our members.
“During our first meeting, we thought they were almost resolving the issues.
“What compounded the problem is the issue of IPPIS. We have said that it is a distraction. There is no university in the world that uses IPPIS.
“We have done three presentations of UTAS to the Minister of Education and his team, the leadership of the Senate and Office of the Accountant-General. They only agreed that UTAS is accepted in principles.
“We are almost getting UTAS approved but the government is saying that our members should first migrate to IPPIS before returning to UTAS. That makes no economic sense. The government has made it difficult for smooth negotiation. They said our members will be paid when they move to IPPIS.”