ASUU strike: Nasarawa State University set to resume academic activities

Nasarawa State University Keffi (NSUK) is set to resume academic activities as the state government has promised to take on the responsibility for salary payments owed to the staff of the university.

Engineer Abdullahi Sule, Nasarawa State Governor said this during his briefing with members of the state executive council, at the fifth state executive council meeting.

According to the governor, the decision to take over the payment of salaries at NSUK is aimed at paving the way for the possible resumption of academic activities so as to meet one of the key demands by the local chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

What they are saying

The governor explained that beginning from this month, his administration has agreed to take over the responsibility of paying salaries of staff at the NSUK, based on the available finances to the state and more importantly, because of the importance attached to education,

• “One of the conditions they gave to us, the most important condition, is to ensure that we take over the full payment of salaries of all the staff, so that they don’t have to use their IGR.
• “As far as we are concerned, we looked at our finances and we strongly believe that, based on the cashflow we have available to us and also because of the importance we attach to education, that we should be able to start that from this month.
• “That is what we are looking forward to do. We are also hoping they will compliment by the moment we start the payment hopefully by Thursday or Friday, then we are hoping to see them also returning to their classes.”

What you should know

• ASUU had on February 14, 2022, embarked on a 4-week total and comprehensive strike to press home their unresolved demands on the federal government.
• Some of the lecturers’ demands include funding for the revitalisation of public universities, which amounts to N1.1 trillion, payment of earned academic allowances, and adoption of the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a preferred payment option, instead of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and payment of promotion arrears.
• Others are the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement and the resolution of inconsistencies in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).