The industrial crisis rocking the nation’s public universities worsened on Wednesday when the Federal Government said the non-academic workers in the public universities rejected the new payment platform proposed by lecturers.
The Federal Government is currently studying the University Transparency Account System (UTAS) presented to it by the Academic Staff of Union of Universities (ASUU).
The development had forced the Senior Staff Association of Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities to kick against the payment platform.
The Minister of Labour, Employment and Productivity, Senator Chris Ngige, told journalists that the development was raising fresh concerns in the nation’s ivory towers.
Ngige spoke with journalists after he defended his ministry’s budget before the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity.
He, nevertheless, said that his ministry had already forwarded the UTAS to the National Information Technology Development Agency for assessment.
The minister said, “We have sent their (UTAS) system to NITDA for assessment but the lecturers have to come back from strike to know what we can do in the interim.
“They have to come to hear that there are other systems in the university. Other workers said they have their own system of payment and they are not going with UTAS.
