ASUU Strike: Crisis Deepens As NAAT Kicks Against UTAS

ASUU

The National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) has told the federal government to kick against a salary payment platform designed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) called University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).

NAAT said the government must refuse to allow itself to be held hostage by any union to accept the lecturers’ platform, adding that NAAT had also worked conscentiously to produce its own platform called Tertiary Institutions Integrity Payroll System (TIIPS).

Recall that the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), had recently told the federal government about their own separate platform that will serve as an alternative to the controversial Integrated Payroll and Payment Information System (IPPIS) introduced by the Federal Government.

As gathered by Eko Hot Blog, the new platform introduced by SSANU and NASU was University General Peculiar Payroll Payment System (UGPPPS).President of NAAT, Ibeji Nwokoma, speaking to journalists after the 44th National Executive Council of the association vowed that the association would also resist any attempt to skew the sharing of the recently approved N40bn Earned Allowance released by the federal government to favour a particular union to the detriment of its members.

Nwokoma noted that its members were being owed the sum of N71 billion in arrears as part of the 2009 agreement with the federal government.

According to him, NAAT is also demanding the disbursement of the sum of N100 billion immediately and N5 billion annually for the next five years to equip laboratories, workshops & studios in the nation’s universities to bring them to global standard in the interest of students, production of quality graduates and National development.

The union leader also took a swipe at the Chairman of the Federal Government Renegotiation Committee, Prof. Munzali Jibrin, particularly due to his comment on the sharing of the earned allowance, noting that the former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission has made himself the mouthpiece of ASUU.

He explained that “members of NAAT (Technologists) are trained professionally to impact practical knowledge, but the right atmosphere is not provided, it becomes difficult for Technologists to perform their duties properly.”

He called for the immediate auditing of equipment in the University Laboratories, insisting that their position against UTAS does not in any way denote their acceptance of the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS).

“The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) organized series of meetings to educate unions on the workings of the IPPIS where the Consultant, Infinix demonstrated and produced copies of payslips in which all allowances were said to have been captured with assurances that NAAT peculiarities would be taken care of. Unfortunately, this was not the case as all our allowance contained in the 2009 FGN/NAAT agreement was removed,” he added.

Ronny Ikpoto

Edidiong-Ronny Ikpoto holds a First Class degree in Media Studies. He shares a healthy enthusiasm for journalism, social & literary criticism, and creative writing.