The leadership of the union at the Calabar
Zone comprising nine universities in Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Abia and Ebonyi
states made their position known in a statement read at a news briefing by the
Zonal Chairman, Aniekan Brown.
The statement said: “It has become
imperative to engage the public, through the instrumentality of the press, to
illuminate ASUU’s stance on the outstanding issues in the 2009 FGN/ASUU
Agreement, Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) versus
University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) option; and the Federal
Government of Nigeria’s rather unpatriotic attempt to discredit the
indigenously-developed software.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the IPPIS as a
payment system is uncongenial with the modus operandi of the university system,
given the peculiarities of universities; and generally untoward to the welfare
of ASUU members.
“As a result of ASUU’s dogged resistance to
the IPPIS, the Federal Government challenged it to evolve a credible
alternative. ASUU accepted the challenge and on August 23, 2020, despite the
COVID-19 restrictions and attendant difficulties, unveiled the University
Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS). Sadly, the Federal Government
changed the gear and opted to antagonise the software by raising artificial
obstacles.”
The acceptance of UTAS was predicated on
passing an integrity test. The release of the test result became predicated on
a threat of an industrial action by the union.
They said result upon the release was
bridled with ignorance, inconsistencies, copy rights violations and political
colourations, as some findings were independent of the actual. In which case,
in spite of the high percentage score recorded for UTAS, it was still adjudged
to have failed the said test.”