Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the federal government have reached an agreement on the N22.17 billion earned allowances and N30 billion revitalisation fund.

The agreement was reached yesterday after a meeting between the representatives of ASUU, led by its president, Victor Osodeke and the government representatives led by the minister of finance, Zainab Ahmed, and the minister of state for education, Emeka Nwajiuba.

The federal government had earlier said it will pay the sum of N22.17 billion earned allowances to all workers in the universities on or before October 30, 2021, however, the union had issued three weeks ultimatum to the government on the October agreement, saying if the government should fail, it will embark on strike.

The meeting, which was presided over by the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, resolved to intervene following a motion by Julius Ihonvbere (APC, Edo). Following the motion, the speaker announced that he would be meeting the union and federal government.

Gbajabiamila in his opening remarks said strike action should be the last resort, and also criticised the government for failing to fulfil its part of the agreement.

At the meeting, Osodeke said the union had given the federal government several opportunities to fulfil the 2009 agreement and other agreements signed.

He said the minimum the union was willing to entertain is that the government should pay the N30 billion agreed as part of the N220 billion tranche for the revitalisation of schools and the 22.17 billion earned allowances.

“We met in August 2021, we returned to our members that they should not be agitated, that they have promised that everything will be sorted out by August. When none of it was implemented, we met again on October 14, we were assured that all these things will be resolved by the end of October.”

According to the ASUU president, the union decided to take drastic action following the inability of the government to implement the agreement.

Ahmed said the Ministry of Education had already given a directive for the money to be paid. She noted that all the funds would be released within a week.

The minister of finance assured the union that the earned allowances would not be affected by issues of sharing formula.

Non-Academic Staff Unions of Education and Associated Institutions (NASU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) are opposed to the sharing formula for the earned allowance.

She said the ministry is waiting for payment schedules from the National Universities Commission (NUC), noting that once the schedule is provided, the funds will be sent to the schools.

Ahmed also said there would be a need to review the current agreement signed in 2009. According to the minister, the government is under financial constraints, hence, will not be able to meet the financial pledge in the agreement.

According to her, the N1.3 trillion is not feasible for the government. She noted that out of the N30 billion revitalisation funds, N20 billion has been released to NEEDs account at the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Mr Nwajiuba said the Ministry of Education is not in disagreement with the union. He noted that the ministry is committed to the agreements.

On the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), the speaker said the Committee on Telecommunication would interface with the union.

TodayNG