FG using hunger to coerce us — ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Nsukka zone on Friday alleged that the Federal Government is using hunger to coerce them into accepting the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information Service (IPPIS).

Addressing a press conference in Makurdi, the union posited that they would continue to resist any action capable of frustrating educational and national development.

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Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Nsukka zone, Dr. Igbana Ajir, flanked by members universities of the zone, noted that the federal government consciously adopted the instrument of hunger to force the union to submission, having not paid them for over nine months on insistence that they must enrolled in the IPPIS.

Ajir added, “the refusal of the Government to accept the alternative platform, the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) which has been developed by our union and offered to the government at no cost, calls for serious concern.

“ASUU has pointed out apparent deficiencies inherent in and the widely reported fraud being perpetrated by operators of IPPIS within and outside the Auditor General of the Federation’s (AGF) office.

“The excuse that the platform (UTAS) must be presented to National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) before certification for adoption and usage without a timeline is a ploy to delay and frustrate the union efforts.”

The union therefore urged the government to show understanding and exhibit flexibility in addressing the issues at hand in order to bring students who have long stayed at home back to school.

Ajir concluded, “the imposition of IPPIS on our members and the denial of salaries for our members who refused to enroll on IPPIS with a few of creating starvation is completely unacceptable to the union.”