The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said its members would consider embarking on another industrial action because the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian government is yet to fulfil any of its promises to them.
The ASUU National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, revealed this during an interview session, adding that the last month salaries were paid to them via the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) as against the government’s promise to stop that.
The IPPIS unveiled in 2006, is a government initiative aimed at streamlining payroll for government ministries, departments, and agencies.
It was later extended to universities and colleges but was vehemently rejected by the workers who embarked on a protracted strike in 2020, and 2021,
They complained of several irregularities associated with IPPIS.
This made the Nigerian government exclude tertiary institutions including universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education from the platform in December 2023.
Osodeke added that none of the union’s demands had been fulfilled.
In September 2023, the government announced a 35% increase in the salary of tertiary institution workers, retroactive to January 2023.
It also pledged to reimburse four months' earnings out of the seven and a half months that were withheld during the 2022 nationwide strike.
Some other demands of ASUU, including payment of Earned Academic Allowance, and the unprogressive renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement had at various times led to incessant strikes in the government-owned universities.
He maintained that there had been no official communication from FG, adding that everything was at a standstill.
“Our member will decide, that is the reason we have been going on strike, even for salary review, yet, nothing has been done. Our February salary was paid with IPPIS, so nothing has been done or implemented. The government should do the needful and implement all the agreements they had with us,” the ASUU President was quoted by PUNCH.
Osodeke also stated that ASUU would shortly issue a press statement announcing its decision.