Emeka Nwajiuba, Minister of State for Education, has urged the Academic Staff Union of Institutions (ASUU) not to go on strike again, eight months after the union completed a nine-month strike that paralyzed the nation’s universities and interrupted academic calendars.
Nwajiuba says the reason why ASUU hasn’t received monies as promised in 2020 before the last strike was called off, is because bureaucracy at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is delaying the disbursement.
University lecturers had gone on strike in March 2020 following their disagreement with the government over the funding of the universities, discrepancies around the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), among others.
However, ASUU developed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) to replace the IPPIS and held several meetings with officials of the ministries of finance, education, labour and employment, and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, before the UTAS was approved and before the last strike was suspended.
UTAS is yet to be implemented, however.