The Academic Staff Union of Universities has applauded the Federal Government for agreeing with the union on a period review of the implementation of the Memorandum of Action.
The President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, gave the commendation while addressing newsmen at the end of a meeting between the leadership of the union and the Federal Government on Friday in Abuja.
Ogunyemi said the meeting was fruitful and that progress had been made.
He said: “Put together, we want to agree that we had fruitful discussions and we have strong hopes that there will be fruitful and harmonious relationship in achieving the provisions of the MoA of 2020.
“We want to agree that it is a departure from the past because now we have agreed on intermittent or periodic review of the MoA so that areas that will create tension will be apprehended before matters degenerate.”
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, who led the government team, said both parties discussed every item on the memorandum and had reached agreements.
Ngige said: “On the issue of the N30 billion revitalisation fund, we have looked at the payment and how to streamline the outstanding payment into the national budget or into a special system fund.
“Also, with regard to the Earned Academic Allowances, the Federal Government has paid N40 billion to all the unions, while the National Universities Commission provided a formula which was used for sharing it to all the university workers.
“We had pockets of protests and we managed it.
“Today, we also agreed to find a way to accommodate the balance in order to pay all as and when due.
“We also looked at salaries that were not captured by the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, resulting in some lecturers not having their full amount of payment since December or January 2020.
“We felt that such a thing should not arise and also notes were exchanged by the office of Accountant-General and ASUU leadership.
“So, we want them to go back and cross-check.”
Ngige noted that the issue of check-off dues was discussed and also both Office of the Auditor-General and ASUU were asked to go back and look at their records and reconcile.
He said the issue of state universities and the NUC bill were equally addressed and they agreed that both parties should look at the draft bill and the final bill knocked out for transmission to the National Assembly.
ASUU called off its nine-month-old indefinite strike on December 23, 2020 after reaching a six-point MoA with the government.
NAN reports that ASUU’s grievances include funding for revitalisation of public universities, payment of earned academic allowances, salary shortfall, state universities and University Transparency and Accountability Solution, among others.