Ahead of thursday’s meeting between officials of the federal government and the leaders of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the union’s two-week warning strike, the government yesterday described as illegal and a pure act of corruption the warning strike, which the union began on Monday.
The government described the action as illegal because the union failed to notify it as it ought to do before embarking on the strike, adding that it is an act of corruption because the lecturers have already withdrawn their services and yet expect to be paid for the period.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, while answering questions from journalists after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in the State House, Abuja, said he was shocked to read on Monday that the union had embarked on a warning strike.
He described the industrial action as a pure strike and nothing like a warning strike as claimed by the lecturers.
He said a strike means withdrawal of services, what the lecturers have
embarked upon is not different and should not be given a different name.
Ngige faulted ASUU’s continued opposition to the federal government’s
directive that lecturers should register on the Integrated Payroll and
Personnel Information System (IPPIS) platform, saying there is nowhere
employees dictate to their employers how they should be paid.
While expressing hope that the matter would be resolved, he said he
would meet with the union today along with the Minister of Education,
Minister of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation.
The minister, who also said he was aware that the National Assembly and the Ministry of Education met with ASUU yesterday, explained that the decision to bring university lecturers into IPPIS platform began two years ago.
He said the platform was designed generally to plug leakages in the system.
He said: “So, I was shocked on Monday when I read and saw some people
coming out of the university that lecturers have gone on strike. I have
my children in Nigerian universities and I saw them and it is not very
cheery news. They didn’t give us the mandatory notice before going on
strike. So for a start, this strike is illegal.
“They said it is a warning strike but
there is nothing like warning strike. A strike is the withdrawal of
services for which you are being paid. Then, the question will arise –
if you don’t go to work, do you want to be paid? Is it not corruption?
So, this is the dilemma.
“So, to solve the dilemma I have invited them to the meeting for
tomorrow (Thursday). I have invited the minister of education, their
principal employer, the finance ministry and the accountant general of
the federation. So, we will meet and discuss the way forward because no
employee is empowered to dictate to his employer on how he or she should
be paid. There is an ILO convention on it. The important thing is that
you receive your compensation for services rendered or work done as and
when due.
“So, we hope to solve the problems. ASUU members are Nigerians. They are patriotic but tomorrow we hope to engage them.”
However, Ngige said ASUU had claimed it could not be brought into the
IPPIS platform because it had unique characteristics because lecturers
go on sabbatical and some of them teach in more than one university.
He said whereas bringing them into the IPPIS wouldn’t allow them to be paid twice along with the existence of the bank verification number (BVN), government decision is that those on sabbatical are only paid allowances just as their counterparts in medical departments receive clinical allowances for clinical duties and consultations.
He said ASUU claimed that it had
introduced a platform in the university to fight corruption and the
government described it as a welcome development and requested that the
platform be merged with IPPIS.
According to him, at the last meeting with the union, the government
asked ASUU to nominate members to serve in IPPIS committee in every
university only for the union to suddenly make a u-turn and embark on
strike.
“So, if you go on sabbatical, this is the government’s position. What
you should receive in that other place is an allowance, and allowance
has a different portal. That is the portal that doctors are using. You
know that medical consultants have an arrangement by which they are
employed at the universities as lecturers 1, 2 until they ascend to
become professors but hospitals are paying them allowances for clinical
duties being done, the teaching of medical students, surgical
operations, consultations in clinics if you are a physician.
“So, these allowances are captured but IPPIS will not capture two
salaries for one person, and the government also said that sabbatical is
always after seven years. So, there is no frequency for one person on
sabbatical.
“Now we are on the same page because they say they want to help fight
corruption and weed away ghost workers and they said they have developed
a University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).
“At the last visit to Mr. President, we said bring UTAS and we will
merge it with IPPIS for you as a special peculiarity because the staff
that will manage the IPPIS in the university are staff of the university
not people in Abuja. We asked ASUU to nominate those to serve in the
IPPIS committee in every institution. So, that is where we are after the
visit to Mr. President.”
Earlier, Ngige said he briefed the council on the activities of his
ministry in his first 100 days in office in accordance with the mandate
given to all ministers, saying one of the ministry’s moves is to ensure
that every worker is protected through insurance by his employer.
According to him, it is compulsory for all employers in both the private
and public sectors to procure two forms of insurance for their
employees.
He identified the first one as a package to protect workers against work
hazards while the other is group life insurance meant to insure the
lives of employees in case of death.
Ngige, who said all employers must pay insurance fees for every employee
noted that children of employees would benefit from group life
insurance until they attain the age of 21.
Also briefing journalists on behalf of the Minister of Finance, Mrs.
Zainab Ahmed, the presidential spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, said
whereas the council approved the take-off of the new Value Added Tax
(VAT) from February 1, this year, the new VAT of 7.5 per cent would not
be applicable to contracts awarded before the implementation of the new
VAT.
He explained that only contracts awarded after February 1, 2020 would
attract 7.5 per cent VAT payment while the old 5 per cent VAT would yet
be paid for old contracts.
He said: “What I want to brief you on is the approval of the report of a
cabinet committee on the effective date for the commencement of the 7.5
per cent VAT on government contracts. By law, the new VAT came into
effect on the 1st of February, 2020.
“Government had worried about the implications of this on contracts that
had been issued earlier than this year. So, the contracts that are
being handled by various ministries, particularly the Ministry of Works,
for instance, are coming from many years back.
“So, should the VAT on those contracts be 7.5 per cent or five per cent
as earlier signed on to? A final decision was reached today (yesterday).
This is that new contracts that are signed from February 1, going
forward will attract 7.5 percent VAT. Contracts earlier than February 1
signed on 5 percent VAT will remain at five per cent. So, there is no
more confusion on this matter.”
Also briefing yesterday, the Minister of Works and Housing, Mr.
Babatunde Fashola, said the council approved N29.4 billion for the
reconstruction of 15 kilometers of the ninth mile on Enugu – Onitsha
road.
The minister, who said the reconstruction would be completed in two full years, added that the contract was awarded to RCC.
Also, the Minister of Agriculture, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, said the council
approved N13.9 billion intervention fund to address a range of issues in
the agricultural sector, including pest control, animal diseases, among
others
