ASUU ready to protect varsity autonomy fiercely — Ogunyemi
By Emmanuel Awosika
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has said it is ready to frustrate efforts of the Federal Government to undermine the autonomy of universities.
President of ASUU, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, said this on Friday in a statement while reacting to the President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘No IPPIS, No Salary’ announcement.
He said the President had concurred with the union’s desire to create a payment system that would reflect the autonomy and peculiarities of the universities.
He revealed that the the union had spent millions on creating an alternate payment system known as University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).
This payment system, he stated, has been presented to the Federal Ministry of Education, with a presentation to the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning to take place later.
Ogunyemi said this was why the President’s ‘No IPPIS, No Salary’ directive could not have been for the university lectures because they had agreed to use UTAS.
The ASUU president said the union would not look on helplessly as the FG undermined its hard-won autonomy.
The statement reads: “The idea of seeking clearance from the Head of Service or the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation is alien to university operations because it will halt its flexibility.
“Mr President did not say government will not pay ASUU members for not enrolling in IPPIS. The directive on IPPIS was meant for civil servants and university academics are not civil servants.
“We have an understanding with government to develop an alternative platform which would be sensitive to the operations of the university, accommodate the peculiarities of the university system and respect the autonomy of our universities as obtained globally.
“The University Miscellaneous (Provisions) (Amendment) Act (2003), which government gazetted as University Autonomy Act (2007), has vested the powers of managing personnel and payroll system issues in the hands of each university’s governing council. ASUU has gone beyond the debate on this matter.
“On 9th January, 2019 when we visited Mr. President who is Visitor to all federal universities, we reached an understanding that ASUU would develop its proposed University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for testing and adoption for managing personnel information and payroll system in the universities. We have since done that and presented to the Federal Ministry of Education.
“What is left is to present to other major stakeholders, particularly in the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning. The development of UTAS was done at no cost to government. We used contributions from the check-off deductions of ASUU members to finance the project and this cost us millions of naira. IPPIS was designed by the World Bank for the civil service.
“We are aware of the antics of bureaucrats, especially in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, aimed at bringing universities under their control. ASUU will not fold its arms and watch the gains we made on the autonomy of Nigerian universities slip by.
“It took us several years of continuous struggle during the military to get here. So, let nobody hide under the name of President Muhammadu Buhari to attack the autonomy of public universities because Nigerian scholars are prepared to resist it to the last drop of their blood.”
