The Federal Government has declared the current two-week warning strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities as “illegal.”
It accused ASUU of not following laid down procedures before embarking on the industrial action.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, gave the government’s position in Abuja after the Federal Executive Council meeting.
He said ASUU did not give the government the “mandatory notice” required before a union could proceed on strike.
Ngige noted that having allegedly failed to follow the laid down procedures, it amounted to corruption for the university teachers to go on strike.
The minister said,
“I am in shock. The strike is illegal because they did not give us the mandatory notice.
“If you withdraw services and you still want to be paid, it is corruption. Is that not corruption?”
However, Ngige said he had contacted the leadership of ASUU and invited them to a meeting on Thursday (today) to discuss the issues raised by the union.
But, he warned that the government would not succumb to threats by ASUU, arguing that “no employee should dictate to an employer.”
ASUU, while declaring the warning strike, had stated that the government had yet to address issues raised in agreements it reached with the union from 2009 to 2019, including poor funding of the university system.
An immediate issue was the union’s opposition to the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System of the government, designed to capture all federal government workers under one payment system.
Government’s target is to eliminate ‘ghost workers.’
But, ASUU has consistently kicked against it on the grounds that it would not suit the university system.
In place of the IPPIS, the union proposed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, which it said would address the peculiar case of the universities.
When asked on the government’s final stance on IPPIS, Ngige replied that after the union visited the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), earlier in the year, the government stood its ground on the IPPIS.
However, he disclosed that both sides agreed that the IPPIS and ASUU’s UTAS could be harmonised after all the grey areas were sorted out.
The minister added that it came to government as a surprise when ASUU called the warming strike, still raising the issue of the IPPIS.
Ngige also answered questions on insurance for workers and employee compensation, saying that it was mandatory for all employers to insure their employees and also make adequate provision for compensation payment in the event of accidents or injury suffered in the course of work.
