The Federal Government has promised that strikes in Nigeria’s universities and other tertiary institutions will no longer happen.
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, made this known during an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday. He said President Bola Tinubu has clearly told him that no union in any tertiary institution should go on strike again.
“The President has directed that not again, and I’ll borrow your word, not again ever in this country will ASUU or all our tertiary institution trade unions, go on strike,” Alausa said.
He explained that the government is now focused on building better relationships with all academic and non-academic unions, including ASUU, NASU, SANU, and COEASU.
“There has to be a lot of relationship-building with ASUU, NASU, SANU, COEASU, everybody. And beyond that, the government demonstrating goodwill. Government meeting its obligations to these unions,” he said.
The minister also pointed out that past governments often failed to honour agreements made with the unions.
“They sit, they agree, they go and say, tell us when you’re going to implement this. But over the years, government will just renege on those agreements. But that’s not what we’re doing now. We’re talking with them actively,” he said.
On complaints by some lecturers about delayed salaries, Alausa said salaries are still being paid, but the delay was due to the switch from the old payment system to a new one.
He explained that since the institutions moved from IPPIS to GIFMIS, the timing of payments has changed, but salaries are still going out regularly.
“We’re paying salaries. We’re paying salaries regularly. What just happened is that after the tertiary institutions went off IPPIS, which was very restrictive to them, the President graciously agreed to that. They are now on GIFMIS so that they have better control of their funds,” he said.
“The way government pays its salary, they start from the 25th of the month. They pay people on IPPIS as first-line priority. And that’s why what happened in the last six months is, where I’m not happy about it, they’ve been paid around the 8th or 9th of the following month,” he added.
