The Federal Government has said that it might consider adopting the University Transparency Account System (UTAS) presented by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
This was disclosed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige while addressing the press after the two and half hours meeting with the Senate leadership and ASUU.
The UTAS, which is proposed by ASUU to the Federal Government, is an alternative emoluments payment platform to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS)
After the meeting, which was facilitated by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, who said that the alternative payment platform presented by ASUU was homegrown and worth giving a thorough assessment test.
The Labour Minister said, “We agreed at the meeting to give the required consideration to the UTAS alternative they came up with, as a way of finding a lasting solution to the lingering crisis over the implementation of IPPIS. We have neither jettisoned the implementation of the IPPIS nor fully accepted UTAS.
“The level we moved to now is to subject ASUU’s scheme to integrity test and in doing so, it will be presented to users like the office of the Accountant General of the Federation on Wednesday. After that, it will be sent to the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and from there to the office of the National Security Adviser for a second look,” he stated.
He further said, “The platform is an option grown device that requires stage by stage consideration and it is good from the look of things.”
While confirming the outcome of the meeting, Chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and Tetfund, Senator Ahmad Baba Kaita, said that the discussion has not ended and that they are getting closer to a compromise between the 2 parties.
Backstory
Recall that members of ASUU have been on strike for about 7 months, due to the dispute with the Federal Government over the implementation of the IPPIS in the university system. The lecturers have claimed it violates the autonomy of Nigerian universities.
This protest is really changing things. An issue that FG has been dragging, now they want to consider it. I believe that we can demand more. Fear of revolution. Hahahaha. So they are just taking people for granted.