The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Lagos Zone, on Tuesday, warned that the National Information Technology Development Agency’s rejection of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) may prolong the strike.
The strike will not be called off until the government resolves the adoption of UTAS, implements the renegotiated agreement, and pays all unpaid allowances, according to the union.
Adelaja Odukoya, the coordinator of ASUU Lagos Zone, stated that the UTAS suggested by the union passed the test and quality assurance requirements, scoring 99.3 percent, at a press event conducted at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, on Tuesday.
The refusal, according to Odukoya, was an attempt to play politics with the education sector.
He claimed that the NITDA’s statement criticizing the union’s efforts on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution is incorrect and a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.
“We, however, wish to draw the attention of all concerned to the deliberate misinformation and disinformation of the public by the National Information Technology and Development Agency on the state of the integrity test and adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution by the government.
“The utterances of the NITDA spokesperson are capable of deliberate elongation of the ongoing strike action, suppose the government allows itself to be misinformed and misdirected through the managerial incompetence of the NITDA officers. In that case, our union considers it the peak of insensitivity to the plight of the universities, including staff, students, and indeed the country.
“Nonetheless, it is the considered opinion of our union that we owe the Nigerian people the onerous responsibility of providing the truth in discharging our patriotic duty as Nigerian Academic and the intellectual conscience of the Nigerian state.
“ASUU wants to inform you that the current strike action will not be suspended until the government addresses the adoption of UTAS, implement the renegotiated agreement, pay all outstanding allowances without prejudice to the donation of $1 million to Afghanistan and fulfill all other issues contained in the Memorandum of Action signed with our Union,” he stated.
On February 14, the union had embarked on the ongoing strike in protest of non-payment of allowances by the Federal Government.
