Federal Govt Declares Meeting With ASUU Successful, Promises N22bn Earned Allowance
Federal government yesterday described its meeting with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) aimed at evaluating the implementation of the Memorandum of Action (MoA) entered into by the parties as successful.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, the minister of labour and employment, Dr Chris Ngige, said the meeting evaluated seven key issues, with both parties expressing satisfaction with the implementation stages of what he termed “work in progress.”
He said some of the items in the MoA were nearly done hundred per cent within the timeline.
The minister said the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was directed to expedite action on the integrity test on the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) which if successful, will eliminate the challenges posed by the peculiarities of the university system to the current payment platform.
Ngige said the government has also paid the sum of N30 billion as the University Revitalisation Fund as contained in the MoA since January 2021. The money according to him, is however still lodged with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) pending the conclusion of the audit report of the Implementation Committee on the use of previous funds disbursed to universities by the federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC).
He added that apart from the N40 billion earned allowances which the federal government had paid, the Budget Office of the Federation showed evidence that N22 billion earned allowances for 2021 is already captured in the 2021 supplementary budget and will soon be accessed.
In his speech, ASUU president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, expressed satisfaction with the outcome and promised that the union will reach out to its members.
