ASUU Strike: We Await Government’s Approval On UTAS

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has disclosed that the ongoing strike will still continue until the government conducts an integrity test on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) proposed by the union.

ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi mentioned that the government is to give clearance to the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) to conduct the test on the union’s proposed payment platform.

Reacting to the Federal Government’s acceptance of UTAS, Prof. Ogunyemi stated that the union has already presented their position and a meeting with the government might hold this week to know their position.

He said, “The meeting for Monday was postponed. In principle, they have accepted UTAS and told us to go for the test, and on our part, we have started the process. We had presented UTAS at three levels, starting with the Ministry of Education, Senate President and members of his team, officials of Ministry of Finance and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, where all other stakeholders were present, including NITDA, all stakeholders have witnessed the presentation and the next stage of integrity test is what we are moving in to.”

Prof. Ogunyemi explained that ASUU was ready to resume full academic activities if the government plays its part early, in facilitating the payment system.