The Owerri zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has warned the federal government of a looming industrial action, over the government failure to fulfill its 2009 agreement with the union.
ASUU in a press conference held at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka and addressed by its zonal coordinator, Mr Uzo Onyebinama said the use of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) by the federal government has shut out some lecturers from receiving their salaries for as long as 10 months.
According to him: “Today, while we were holding our zonal meeting, a lecturer came to us to complain that for 10 months now he has not received his salaries. It is still a wonder to us that the federal government decided against using UTAS, despite having been subjected to all manner of tests and has scaled through.
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“We have called you all here to tell you that we are saddened that having reached the end of the tunnel, we couldn’t find any light. The agents of the federal government have reneged from implementing the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement.
“As we speak, the federal government is in arrears of major components of the agreement, and that includes funding for the revitalization of public universities, earned academic allowances, and the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement.”
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He added: “We are being driven once again by the intransigence of the agents of the federal government of Nigeria to once again truncate teaching and research activities in our universities nationwide.
“The magnanimity of ASUU that resulted in various MOUs (Memorandum of Understanding) and MOAs (Memorandum of Action) arising from the 2009 FGN-ASUU agreement has been spurned by the federal government.
“We can not say when the strike will start, because we need to take our time to prepare, but once we start, there will be no looking back. We once again alert Nigerians that unless FG strives to sincerely resolve these issues, there will be no rest for all of us.”
