ASUU strike boosting EndSARS protests – FG declares

FG has said that it is not replacing IPPIS with UTAS

The minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, made the denial on Thursday, October 15, in Abuja

Ngige said that the ASUU strike contributed to the EndSARS protests in Nigeria

The federal government denied speculations that it has replaced the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) platform with University Transparency Account System (UTAS).

NAIJA LIVE TV reports that the ASUU came up with the UTAS platform in a protest against the federal government’s IPPIS.

NAIJA LIVE TV gathered that the federal government also lamented that the continuous closure of Nigerian universities as a result of the strike embarked upon by the ASUU over the IPPIS has contributed to the ongoing #EndSARS protest.

Chris Ngige, the minister for labour and employment, stated this on Thursday, October 15, at a meeting with the leadership of ASUU over the union’s stiff opposition to the IPPIS payment platform.

The minister also debunked the insinuation that the prolonged strike that has paralysed academic activities in tertiary institutions across the country.

He said:

“For the past one week, we have all been on our toes, we have been meeting and we pray that this meeting will yield some good fruits. We don’t take very great pleasure, to the fact that the children who are supposed to be in school are being recruited into the #EndSARS, #EndStrike, #EndSWAT and all the kind of situations.

“As much as possible, we will try to see how we can meet ourselves halfway, so that we can resolve this crisis to the benefits of all and the country at large.”
He noted that the government has commenced the process of testing UTAS which ASUU members claimed it accommodates the peculiarities of university systems, adding that all the three stages of the test will be concluded within the time frame the union gave the government.

Ngige said:

“Let me make it clear to members of the press, we never said UTAS will replace IPPIS as some of you are reporting, No! The UTAS developed by them is for the university systems and they feel that it captures the peculiarities that are configured to accommodate all the peculiarities of the university systems especially as it affects the professors and other teaching staff and even the non-academic staff. That is the situation.

“We, as the government feels we are going to put it up for tests – three stages of the test. We have done the first stage of the test which is within the timeline of six months that ASUU promised.”

Meanwhile, NAIJA LIVE TV had previously reported that Ngige informed journalists in Abuja that the government agreed to consider ASUU’s suggested alternative for the IPPIS.

It was reported that the minister pointed out that both parties were at the compromise stage on the issue and he would forward the proposal to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

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