NSUKKA---- A top member of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU,

University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, chapter, Dr. George Okereke, has accused

the Minister for Education, Adamu Adamu, of alleged insensitivity over the lingering face-off between the Federal Government and ASUU following the introduction of IPPIS.

IPPIS means Integrated Payroll

and Personnel Information System.

Okereke spoke at the UNN, saying that Adamu's nonchalance had led to the non- resolution of the crisis which forced ASUU members to embark on strike for sometime now. ASUU members are protesting the Federal Government's that their members enrol into the IPPIS.

In his two-page, open letter to the Minister, Okereke asked Adamu to use the opportunity of the novel coronavirus pandemic which has led to the lockdown of the country to resolve the lingering crises between the Federal Government and ASUU for the union to end its indefinite strike.

Okereke said that withholding the salaries of lecturers in this hard time

and threatening them with sack were not good conflict resolution strategies, adding that it would further create poor image for the 

government and enmity for the minister.

The letter read in part, “I write you today with all sense of humility. I write you because I observed that you are overlooking a

very crucial and sensitive aspect of your duty as our Minister for Education.

“What efforts are you making to arrest the crisis in your ministry?

"ASUU has been on strike but you seem not to border. You have allowed every attention to be diverted to the Ministry of Health whereas your

very ministry is on fire. 

"Do you not think that the opportunity of

"stay at home" provided by the Covid- 19 pandemic should be utilized by your

ministry to resolve the misunderstanding between ASUU and the government? 

"Do you think that withholding the salaries of Nigerian lecturers, particularly in this hard period of "stay at home", can in any way proffer a solution to the problem?

“Please, I appeal to you to learn from past experiences. There has never been a time in the past that one kobo of lecturers pay was

forfeited to the government during strike. 

"The salaries must be paid in full, and it is my candid advice that you commence payment of

lecturers' salaries now, as a way of softening the ground for amicable resolution. 

"Bear in mind, Honourable Minister, that for now, you are owing the lecturers even for a month they worked. 

"I wish to remind you that even the military dictators in their regimes in Nigeria could not intimidate ASUU by with-holding their salaries and threatening them with sack.

“You will only be attracting enmity to your person and bad name for the Federal Government by pretending not to know that there is fire on the mountain in your ministry by joining to shout Coronavirus.

"Coronavirus will go, and you would be faced with the stack reality of the problem in your ministry.

“Honourable Minister Sir, your colleague in the health sector is running helter-skelter, addressing the nation every now and then, to

arrest the emergency in his ministry. 

"The whole Nigerians are witnesses to his efforts towards ameliorating the scourge of Coronavirus, which is the crisis in his ministry. We commend his efforts, no matter all shortcomings.

“It is my opinion that you take advantage of the holidays to tackle the ASUU problem. You can resolve it. That is why you are the Minister

for Education. It is not yet too late. Start now.”