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Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the Federal Government of deliberately frustrating efforts it was making to end the ongoing industrial action.
It said the failure of government to honour the 2020 FGN-ASUU memorandum of action (MOA) with a view to addressing the myriad of challenges confronting public universities has kept the strike alive.
Coordinator of ASUU in Owerri zone, Uzo Onyebinama, during a press conference at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, said the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) integrity test was 99.3 per cent yet the Federal Government refused to use it.
Other ASUU leaders at the briefing were Okey Aniebo (Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University), Chinedu Ihejirika (Federal University of Technology), Odinakachukwu Ejiogu (Imo State University), Chike Ugwuene, (Michael Okpara University of Agriculture) and Steve Ufoaroh, chairperson (NAU).
“Another major outstanding issue is the reluctance of the Federal Government to deploy UTAS as a payment platform for the salaries and other entitlements of academic staff in public universities.
“UTAS is a brainchild of ASUU borne out of the patriotic zeal to improve financial and programme accounting in public universities, after it became obvious that the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System had contributed to and compounded corruption in public universities.
“UTAS is home-grown and is compliant with global best practice in the industry. It received a score of 99.3 per cent after remediation and conclusion of tests by the Nigerian Technology Development Agency,” Onyebinama said.
