ASUU Threatens Indefinite Strike Action If FG Insists On IPPIS

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to go on an indefinite strike if the Federal
Government continues to insist that lecturers must enrol for the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System. The union also wants the FG to honour its agreements with them.

This was made in a statement by Prof. Olusiji Sowande, the ASUU Coordinator, Lagos Zone, while addressing reporters at the Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ogun State, on Tuesday.

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He revealed that the union might just go for a complete strike action after the two-week warning strike to press the Federal Government to yield to their demands.

The union coordinator called on Nigerians to show understanding and join forces with them in the struggle for the survival of public universities while revealing that the warning strike was to call the attention of the government to the outstanding issues in the 2009 ASUU - FGN Agreement, MoU /MoAs of 2013, 2017 and 2019.

Sowande condemned the $140m loan allegedly obtained by the FG for the Software procurement and the implementation of IPPIS.

Here's what he said;
“Our union will not surrender to blackmail and intimidation from government and will not hesitate to embark on total, comprehensive and an indefinite industrial action to wrestle public universities from the clutches of prowling jackals in government.

“This is the time for the masses to show understanding and join forces with us in this patriotic and lawful struggle for the continued existence and survival of public universities.

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“However, the call for investigation of the massive fraud being perpetrated in IPPIS office has fallen on deaf ears and this call to question the sincerity of government in using the IPPIS as an instrument of fighting corruption. Government’s continued turning of a deaf ear and turning of a blind eye to the corruption in the IPPIS is to centralise corruption with the IPPIS and the office of the AGF as headquarters .

“In addition, taking a loan of $140m to procure software and train staff for the single purpose of implementing the IPPIS is a massive fraud on the part of government, whereas the same software was freely offered by our union on the platform of University Transparency and Accountability Solution that will be university-based, but which can be accessed by the government from their offices so they can monitor what is happening in the universities.”