Varsities Will Remain Shut- ASUU.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said it does not bother about universities remaining shut until the federal government does right by the union to right to guarantee the quality of learning and well-being of workers and students.

The leadership of the union at the Calabar Zone comprising nine universities in Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Abia and Ebonyi states made their position known in a statement released to the media by the Zonal Chairman, Aniekan Brown.

Mr. Aniekan said: “It has become imperative to engage the public, through the instrumentality of the press, to illuminate ASUU’s stance on the outstanding issues in the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreement, Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) versus University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS); and the Federal Government of Nigeria’s rather unpatriotic attempt to discredit the originally-developed software.

“In order to avoid more doubt, the IPPIS as a payment system is uncongenial with the modus operandi of the university system, given the peculiarities of universities; and the general welfare of ASUU members.

“As a result of ASUU’s dogged resistance to the IPPIS, the Federal Government challenged it to evolve a credible alternative. ASUU accepted the challenge and on August 23, 2020, despite the COVID-19 restrictions and attendant difficulties, unveiled the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS). Sadly, the Federal Government changed the gear and opted to antagonize the software by giving excuses .”

Furthermore, “The acceptance of UTAS was predicated on passing an integrity test which the result was released due to a threat of an industrial action by ASUU. According to the union the released result was bridled with ignorance, inconsistencies, copy rights violations and political colourations, as some findings were independent of the actual. In which case, in spite of the high percentage score recorded for UTAS platform, it was still deemed unfit.”