National president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Emmanuel Osodeke, has called on the President Muhammadu Buhari to sign the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) payment platform for lecturers.
During a Monday programme on Channels TV, the ASUU national president said the union is ready to end the strike if the federal government signs the agreement.
“As far as ASUU is concerned, the strike can end tomorrow, we have finished the negotiations, let the government call us this night that we should come tomorrow and sign the agreement, we will be there.
“Let the government tell us they have finished testing the UTAS, we have accepted it. By tomorrow, we will call off the strike. We are finished (with negotiations),” Mr Osodeke said.
He said that the union has concluded their discussion with the federal government that the UTAS payment method should replace the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Instead of meeting their demands, Mr Osodeke said the federal government had instead failed to pay the striking lecturers their salaries for the past five months.
“We are just waiting, and challenging the government. When will they sign the agreement, and when will they accept UTAS? Those are the two questions we need to ask the Nigerian government,” the ASUU president added.
ASUU has been on strike since February 14, over the federal government’s failure to honour the 2009 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the union.
It has been over 140 days since the union went on strike, demanding that the federal government sign the UTAS payment platform for their salaries and address other issues affecting public universities.
