The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has said that the Ministry as well as the Ministry of Education, would use the previous payment platform of the government before it introduced IPPIS to pay the withheld salaries of the University lecturers under strict monitoring.
Ngige announced this in Abuja on Friday, on behalf of the government when they met with the representatives of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.
He said the Federal Government has offered a cumulative sum of N65 billion to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to address earned academic allowances and revitalisation of universities.
Briefing reporters at the end of the meeting, the Minister described the negotiation as fruitful as the government has decided to shift grounds on the lingering issues that have kept students out of the classroom for several months.
Ngige noted that in its bid to resolve the impasse with ASUU, the sum of N15 billion from the amount offered by the government would be for more funds to revitalize the universities.
He explained that the fund was in addition to the N20 billion paid earlier, making it a total of N35 billion committed as a revitalization fund by the government.
The minister gave an update on the visitation panel to the universities, noting that the panel would be inaugurated next week.
He also spoke about the payment system, as the union had rejected the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) of the government.
Ngige noted that representatives of the government and ASUU met over the University Transparency Account System (UTAS) proposed by the union, but it was a work in progress.
CHANNELS TV reports that the ASUU president, who also addressed reporters, acknowledged that the government has made some new offers to the union and some progress has been made.
He, however, said the union leaders would report to their organs and get back to the government on the position of their members.
