ASUU Threatens Strike Over Promotion Arrears

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has asked the federal government to release the outstanding promotion arrears owed its members in the interest of industrial peace and harmony in Nigerian universities.

The union made the demand at the end of its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting that was held at the University of Maiduguri in Borno State.

ASUU said it was also disturbed by the news of employment racketeering perpetrated through the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) by some civil servants.

NEC said the members are currently owed several months of promotion arrears arising from distortions traceable to the forceful enrollment of academics on the IPPIS platform. NEC said the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has failed to address the issue despite several efforts by the union and university administrations.

“Consequently, ASUU calls on the OAGF to ensure the immediate release of the backlog of promotion arrears to our members in the interest of industrial peace and harmony,” the union said in a statement that was released yesterday.

The lecturers’ union said it is “disturbed by reports of massive employment racketeering perpetuated by operators of the discredited IPPIS, including scandalous revelations at the recent sittings of House of Representatives’ Probe Panel on IPPIS.

“NEC observed that the unsavoury trend has eroded university employment tradition in violation of the provisions of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2003, and Guidelines for Appointments and Promotions of individual universities. ASUU rejects all illegal appointments sponsored by the IPPIS and its agents in Nigerian public universities.”