IPPIS: ASUU embarks on two weeks warning strike
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on Monday, commenced a two-week warning strike over non payment of salaries of lecturers.
Those affected are lecturers who did not enroll into the Federal Government Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
ASUU is also protesting other outstanding agreements.
The strike was announced via a communique issued at the end of its two-day National Executive Council meeting held at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology, (ESUT).
National President of the union, Comrade Biodun Ogunyemi, who read the resolution of the union at a press conference held at Dannic Hotel, Enugu, said the warning strike takes effect from Monday, March 9.
He said the strike was to compel the Federal Government to implement the outstanding agreement and resolution of Memorandum of Action it had with the union from 2009, 2013, 2017 and 2019.
“Having discussed the provisions in the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the 2017 Memorandum of Action (MoA) which have not been implemented, NEC resolved to embark on two weeks warning strike with effect from Monday 9th March, 2020, to compel the Government to implement the agreement and resolution,” he stated.
He warned that the Federal Government’s attempt to dictate what happens in Nigerian university system erodes its autonomy, making them incapable of delivering on respective mandates in teaching, research and service.
Citing a case, the ASUU President said, is the imposition of the obnoxious Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) on universities, despite its demonstrated shortcomings.
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Ogunyemi, who was flanked by other leaders of the union, equally lamented the alarming security situation in the country, disheartening state of the economy, aggravated infrastructure decay, deficiency and decay in the university system and attempt by the Federal Government to dictate what happens in the citadels of learning.
He said as a union of intellectuals driven by the patriotic quest for national development, based on the principles of equity, probity and fairness, they took a critical look at the state of the Nigerian universities,
the increasing parlous state of the polity with attendant adverse consequences for the ordinary Nigerians, the mindless betrayal of Nigerians by the ruling class, which has resulted in crippling poverty across the nation, and the state of Nigerian public universities.
On the state of the nation, the ASUU helmsman described the state of insecurity in the country as alarming, stressing that armed robbery, kidnapping, hostage taking of all kinds, banditry, militancy, herdsmen/farmers clashes, and insurgency had become so rife that they appear to have overwhelmed our security agencies, despite huge budgetary allocations to security.
“ASUU calls on the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency overhaul the nation’s security architecture. The failure of the Federal Government to ensure the security of Nigerian citizens had led to the emergence of sporadic security outfits.
This is a sign that the Federal Government has failed to protect Nigerian citizens as stipulated in the Constitution of Nigeria.
“The failure of Government to ensure social justice, wealth and employment creation and accountable, responsive and responsible governance at all levels, is no doubt, at the root of pervasive insecurity problems. We call on the Federal Government to give attention to this dimension of the solution,” he said.
