The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, says the acceptance of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, UTAS, as proposed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, may not necessarily resolve the current impasse over the ongoing lecturers strike as the government has identified another potential sticking point toward the resolution of the issue.
The Minister said this in a chat with State House Correspondents that even if the government accepts the payment mode for lecturers who have rejected being placed on Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, ASUU has no money to procure the necessary hardware for its implementation.
He noted that the Federal Government did not make any budgetary provision for the procurement of the UTAS hardware.
Ngige, however, said the government has already forwarded the UTAS software to the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, for integrity test, hinting that the government will not want to discourage any Nigerian from providing homegrown solutions to issues.
Responding to a question if the government had shifted grounds on its negotiations with ASUU, the Minister said no, adding that the UTAS, which ASUU brought is not yet ready.
