The federal government has agreed to release the sum of N50 billion to take care of outstanding earned allowances of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) before handing over the duty to the governing council of universities.
This is coming after the federal government had announced plans to take over the payment of earned allowances of lecturers and other university workers in their respective institutions till 2024.
A source within the National Executive Council (NEC) of the union made this known on Wednesday, October 12.
The source stated that, “On the issue of earned allowances, N50 billion has been budgeted to cater for outstanding earned allowances, while N170 billion has been fixed for salary increase.
“However, from 2024, it is the various governing councils of universities that will be paying earned allowances, while N300 billion will go towards the cause of universities’ revitalization.
“The lecturers were also told that the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) will be modified to accommodate the peculiarities of University Transparency Accountability System (UTAS),” he added.
Meanwhile, the academic union is scheduled to meet on Thursday, October 13, regarding its ongoing industrial action, and is likely to call it off on or before Friday.
Branches of ASUU across the country on Tuesday and Wednesday, casted their votes as regards the lingering industrial action.
Meanwhile, the branch chairpersons are expected to turn in their reports to enable a formal decision by the union’s NEC on Thursday, according to The Punch.
Recall that the lecturers had on February 14, 2022, embarked on the industrial action over the controversy on the adoption of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) of the federal government as the payment system in the university sector, among other issues.
They had also condemned the poor funding of universities, non-payment of salaries and allowances of some of their colleagues, as well as the inability of the government to pay earned academic allowance to lecturers.
However, efforts to get the lecturers back to class have failed.
Comments