The Congress of University Academics, CONUA, has accused the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, of condemning the use of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System, IPPIS, as the payment system in the universities publicly and romancing same in private.
Speaking in a chat with Vanguard Newspaper, the National President, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, also said his members in various universities were working even when ASUU started its strike on February 14, until the authorities shut down the institutions.
On the claim that ASUU members did not enrol in IPPIS, he said, “Those who come to the public to condemn IPPIS, and every other person in the system were paid our salaries through the platform up until March this year before government stopped paying.”
The discontinuation of IPPIS as university payment platform is one of the demands of ASUU whose strike is almost six months now.
Asked whether his union has made any representation to the government to get them paid since they did not call for any strike, the CONUA boss said a memo to that effect was sent to the authorities some months ago, but nothing has been heard from the other side.
Sunmonu added that though his union did not call out members on strike, a number of variables have since set in.
“The variables include the closure of the universities and the stoppage of salaries. We were not the ones who shut down the universities or who stopped the payment of salaries,” he stated.
On the strength of his union, Sunmonu said it started in 2019 in six universities but has extended to 17 campuses now.
“From the members in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ambrose Alli University, Federal University, Lokoja, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti and Kwara State University, we are now in 12 other campuses. We are growing in leaps and bounds,” he said.
CONUA is a rival academic staff union to ASUU though it has not got the membership strength of the latter.
