The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) stated it is prepared to end the more than three-month-old strike provided the federal government meets a number of requirements, according to the Guardian newspaper.
According to the ASUU leadership, the conditions that must be met include the federal government accepting the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) payment platform and agreeing to the 2009 agreement.
This information was disclosed on Monday, July 4 during an interview on Channels TV by Prof. Emmanuel Osedeke, the national president of ASUU.
He said:
“Let government tell us they have finished testing the UTAS and sign the agreement, then tomorrow we will call off the strike.
“We challenge the government, when would they sign the agreement? When would they accept UTAS? These are the two questions we should ask the Nigerian government.”
“We’re simply fighting for students“, says ASUU
According to Prof. Osedeke, ASUU’s agitation is in the best interest of Nigerian students in other to ensure they have a conducive and enabling environment for learning.
While speaking on the program, the ASUU president made reference to neighbouring countries like Ghana as well as South Africa whom he said had a better educational system than Nigeria.
He however reiterated that if an agreement is reached and stipulations are signed, ASUU will call off the strike.
Prior to the latest development, ASUU has been in a heated battle with federal government for its refusal to honour the 2009 agreement it entered with the union.
The agreement contains a series of demands with one of them being the preferred use of the UTAS payment platform instead of the federal government recommended IPPIS.
Others include review of salary, allowances, rehabilitation of infrastructure and other facilities in universities and a host of others.
Meanwhile, the minister for labour and employment, Dr Chris Ngige has revealed that decisions on will soon be made on the UTAS payment platform.
According to Ngige, President Muhammadu Buhari will issue a directive in light of the issue and as well as increment of salary for lecturers.
Ngige made this known via a statement on Sunday, June 26 stating that the inter-ministerial departments and agencies committees of the federal government would in turn in their reports on Wednesday, June 29 to help in the decision of the president.