The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, Tuesday updated President Muhammadu Buhari on the ongoing negotiation between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The union has been on a one-month warning strike since February 14 over the government’s failure to meet agreements reached with it.
Addressing reporters after meeting with Buhari, Ngige said the president was satisfied with his brief.
The minister said: “2020 December agreement with ASUU is on course in terms of implementation.”
He said N40bn for earned allowance and N30bn for revitalization had been paid.
He said N22.7bn was also paid from the supplementary budget as also earned allowances for 2021.
He said the government was not opposed to payment of good emolument to university lecturers currently on strike.
On the most contentious of issues regarding the decision to use either the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) or the University Transparency Accountability Solutions (UTAS), he said the committee saddled with the responsibility had been given four weeks to provide feedback.
He said the National Information Technology Development Agency ran integrity and vulnerability tests on UTAS and concluded that it did not meet the requirements after pointing out areas of lapses, a verdict, he said, ASUU rejected as incorrect.
He said a joint technical team would meet to do the tests again for confirmation of the initial findings and necessary solutions.
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