The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the Federal Government of using the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) to “cripple” the re-negotiation of FGN/ASUU 2009 agreement and memorandum of action.
ASUU’s chairman at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Professor Rabi’u Nasiru, made this known, saying that the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) was the tool being used to achieve FG’s motive of distracting ASUU from continuing with the negotiation.
Nasiru said the failure of the OAGF to intimidate ASUU members to enroll in the IPPIS made the exercise a failure in the universities.
He added: “After the FGN/ASUU 2009 agreement of 7th February, 2019, it was agreed that Visitation Panel, through which excesses of the university system are checked, would be sent to various Federal Universities by 11th March, 2019. However, these panels are yet to be constituted by the FGN despite the hue and cry about fighting corruption.
“The whole intent of the Federal Government was not to address corrupt practices in our universities, but rather to truncate our FGN/ASUU 2009 agreement, a product of collective bargaining that gave birth to TETFUND and NEEDS interventions in tertiary institutions without which our universities would have been reduced to glorified secondary schools.”
The union urged the Federal Government to desist from any action that would desecrate the University’s autonomy for the sake of this and future Nigerian generations, calling on well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to come back to the negotiation table in order to save the university system from collapse.
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