ASUU Strike: No Decision Yet On UTAS Edu Minister Says

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, says a payment platform, one of the bones of contention surrounding the protracted industrial strike embarked by the members of the Academic Staff Union Universities, ASUU, is yet to be approved.

This was disclosed by Adamu, yesterday, while fielding questions on Channels TV. Recall that ASUU had demanded that its members be exited from IPPIS payment platform to the University Transparency Accountability Solution, UTAS, provided by the union. Adamu said the decision on whether or not to approve the payment platform is left with President Buhari.

“The President is actually waiting for the report of the technical committee on the three payment platforms. I have seen one of the reports but I have not seen the final one. From what I have seen, the U3PS, is probably the best, followed by UTAS and IPPIS,” he said.

According to him, the increment in salaries of university lecturers and other tertiary institutions like Polytechnics and Colleges of Education would not begin immediately, saying it will commence in January next year. Speaking on the ‘no work no pay policy’, Adamu said that the federal government is not ready to change its decision.

“I don’t think the government would rescind. It is not only payment of salary that should motivate them to go back. There are many things that can motivate them to go back to classroom,” he said.