The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has described the ongoing warning strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over their inclusion in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) as “illegal.”
EDITOR’S PICK: ASUU strike continues, as FG gives condition to accommodate UTAS
President Muhammadu Buhari had said on October 8, 2019, while presenting the 2020 budget proposal to a Joint Session of the National Assembly in Abuja that he had directed the stoppage of the salary of any Federal Government staff that was not captured on the IPPIS platform by the end of October 2019 to sustain efforts in managing personnel costs.
On January 9 this year, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed appealed to ASUU to encourage the remaining 40,926 members to comply with the established process by enrolling in the IPPIS.
However, the President of ASUU, Prof. Ogunyemi, while speaking on IPPIS and university operations, insisted that the Federal Government’s Visitor initiative to the universities, at least once in five years, was the best guarantee for monitoring accountability processes that include internal and external audit processes.
Dr Ngige, who fielded questions from State House reporters after a Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Buhari on Wednesday, said ASUU didn’t give the federal government the mandatory notice before going on a two-week strike.
The minister wondered whether it was not an act of corruption to receive salaries for work not done while on an industrial action.
He said that the union had been invited for a meeting tomorrow (Thursday) to resolve the dilemma, adding that the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, their principal employer, the finance ministry and the Accountant General of the federation would attend the meeting to discuss the way forward.
He said no employee was empowered to dictate to his employer on how he or she should be paid.
The minister, however, expressed optimism that the issue would be resolved.
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