The Minister of Labour and Employment , Dr. Chris Ngige, has come under attack, following accusations that he is being economical with the truth, over his claims that the union would soon call off its strike.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities said the minister lied when he said efforts to address the contentious issues were in progress and that the striking lecturers had been receiving their salaries regularly.
On March 23, ASUU members had embarked on an indefinite strike over alleged shortcomings of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, and the failure of the Federal Government to honour its 2019 agreement.
However, Ngige, while featuring on a television programme on Channels TV on Tuesday promised that the Ministries of Finance, Education, Labour and Employment and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation would have a meeting with ASUU.
Ngige went on to say that the FG is ready to undergo any integrity test of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution developed as an alternative to IPPIS by the varsity lecturers.
Reacting, Prof Olusiji Sowande, the Coordinator of ASUU, Lagos Zone, Prof Olusiji Sowande, said Ngige was being “economical with the truth by misinforming the public that government has been paying the salaries of members of our union to date.”
Sowande in a statement in Abeokuta on yesterday said the government only paid salaries up to June, while insisting that lecturers are still being owed three month salaries.
He added that ASUU members in some universities have bot received salary for six months.
Sowande also said the Minister also misinformed the public by narrowing down the issues in contention to ASU’s rejection of IPPIS.
The statement reads partly, “As of today our members are being owed three months salaries while in some universities our members have not received salary for six months.
“In addition, the government through the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation have criminally withheld five months (February-June, 2020) Check-Off deducted from our members’ salaries. We are therefore surprised that MoL&E could go on air to present information which he has not verified as truth to the unsuspecting public.
“The ongoing total, comprehensive and indefinite strike action by our union will continue if this propaganda and lies against ASUU persists.”