Nigeria’s House of Representatives has described the interview granted by President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke accusing Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila of using deception to convince the Union to call off its strike as untrue and misleading.
A statement released by the House spokesperson, Benjamin Kalu noted that at no time did the Speaker promise to offset the arrears of salaries owed to Union members for the time they were on strike. It explains that the commitments made by the House of Representatives to improve the welfare package of university lecturers and
revitalisation funds to improve infrastructure and operations of federal universities have all been reflected in the 2023 Appropriation Bill.
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The statement added that against the decision of the Executive not to pay salaries to lecturers for the time spent on strike in the legitimate interest of preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions, the Speaker has made interventions for an exemption for ASUU.
The House promised to continue working with stakeholders, the Accountant-General of the Federation and ASUU to facilitate the adoption of elements of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, UTAS into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS.
The statement warned that these interventions by the ASUU President could threaten the progress being made by the House of Representatives and further disrupt academic calendar of the universities calling on stakeholders to desist from cheap blackmail and immoral propaganda in the interest of ensuring a well functioning tertiary education sector.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
