Dr. Chris Ngige, Minister of state labour and employment, has stated that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) continuous strike is boosting the ongoing nationwide protests of #EndSARS.
The Minister who said this at the ongoing reconciliatory meeting between representatives of ASUU and government, also affirmed that they are not trying to replace the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) with the University Transparency Account System (UTAS)
Dr. Chris Ngige further lamented that the prolonged strike has led to children who are supposed to be in school being recruited into the “#EndSARS, #EndStrike, #EndSWAT” protests.
He said;
“For the past one week, we have all been on our toes, we have been meeting and we pray that this meeting will yield some good fruits. We don’t take very great pleasure, to the fact that the children who are supposed to be in school are being recruited into the #EndSARS, #EndStrike, #EndSWAT and all the kind of situations.
“As much as possible, we will try to see how we can meet ourselves halfway, so that we can resolve this crisis to the benefits of all and the country at large.”
The Minister who noted that the government has commenced the process of testing UTAS which ASUU members claimed accommodates the peculiarities of university systems, averred that all the three stages of test will be concluded within the time frame the union gave government.