The Federal Government on Tuesday says it will subject the University Transparency Account System (UTAS) presented by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as an alternative to the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS) to integrity test.
The Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, disclosed this after three hours of closed doors meeting with the leadership of the Senate and ASUU.
He said, “We agreed at the meeting to give required consideration to the UTAS alternative they came up with as a way of finding a lasting solution to the lingering crisis over Implementation of IPPIS.
“We have neither jettisoned the implementation of the IPPIS nor fully accepted UTAS. The level we moved to now, is to subject ASUU’s UTAS to integrity test and in doing so, it will be presented to users like the office of Accountant General of the Federation on Wednesday.
“After that, it will be sent to the National Information Technology Development Agency ( NITDA) and from there to the office of the National Security Adviser for a second look.
“The platform is a homegrown device that requires stage by stage consideration and from the looks of things is good “, he said
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and Tetfund, Senator Ahmad Kaita, said the intervention meeting would continue until a compromise was reached between the union and government.
“The meeting brokered by the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan among the various stakeholders, achieved a lot today with agreement on the need to subject the UTAS alternative brought forward by ASUU for integrity test by all relevant departments of the government,” he said.
The ASUU President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, refused to speak with the press after the meeting.
The union has been on strike over government refusal to honour agreements reached with the union in the 2009 agreements and the implementation of the IPPIS, which the union objected to.
Earlier before the joint meeting with the union, the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, in his opening remarks said the continued closure of Universities posed a security threat which in the long run would affect Nigeria adversely.
“The Strike by ASUU is an ill-wind that does no one any good. Our children are home, whereas they should be in school.
“We cannot watch the situation deteriorate. This is beyond education as it bothers on security as well, and the future of this country is going to be affected adversely as it is.
“So, we feel we should engage with the executive arm of government to hear out what they have to say. This is with the firm belief that we would find a solution to this problem.
“We are convinced that when we sit together, we will understand ourselves. And it is in the best interest of us all that we resolve this issue,” he said.
At the meeting were Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu; the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, represented the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed; and the Executive Secretary of the National University Commission (NUC), Prof Abubakar Rasheed.
