The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has
disclosed that the Federal Government has begun the payment of salary arrears
of the striking university teachers...
But the lecturers, under the aegis of the Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) insisted that the Federal Government must remit
N200 billion into the universities’ revitalisation fund before the ongoing
strike can be suspended.
ASUU leaders, who came to the negotiation table with a
former President of the union, Prof. Assisi Asobie and President of the Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC), Abuba Wabba, explained that the payment of their salary
arrears without getting a commitment to the payment of the N200 billion for the
rehabilitation of the universities would portray the union as being only
concerned with the welfare of its members and not the general improvement of
the teaching conditions in the institutions.
Issues in contention include the registration of Nigerian
Universities Pension Management Company (NUPEMCO); fractionalisation of
salaries in federal universities and gross under-funding/non-funding of state
universities and arrears and the implementation of earned academic allowance;
and the non-release of funds for the revitalisation of public universities as
spelt out in the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding.
Other issues are guidelines for the retirement benefits of
professors in line with the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreement; Treasury Single Account
(TSA) and withdrawal of support for universities’ staff primary schools.
Similarly, the members of the National Association of
Resident Doctors (NARD) may call off their ongoing industrial action today
after an emergency congress meeting.
The insistence of the doctors to have the evidence of the
implementation of the agreement reached with them last Thursday was responsible
for the 10-hour marathon meeting that ended yesterday morning.
The Guardian learnt that the National Association of
Resident Doctors (NARD) insisted that the Federal Government should provide the
evidence of implementation to avoid the situation which the academic and
non-academic staff unions of universities found themselves.
NARD said it was no longer interested in signing a
memorandum of understanding without physical and verifiable implementation of
the agreement and would not suspend the ongoing action.
The agreement termed ‘Memorandum of Terms of Settlement’
addressed the six issues raised by NARD: shortfall in salaries; failure to
rectify the salary shortfall from August 2017; failure to circularise house
officers’ entry point; failure to correct the stagnation of promotion of NARD
members and properly place them on their appropriate grade level; failure to
enroll and capture NARD members on the Integrated Personnel Payment Information
System (IPPIS); and failure to budget, deduct and remit both the employer and
employees’ contributions pension to NARD members’ Retirement Savings Account
since 2013.
On the non-payment of salaries, the meeting noted that the
Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) did receive one
Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) of the sum of N13.2billion to address the
shortfalls in public sector, including the payment of the salaries of affected
doctors in Federal Tertiary Health Institutions (FTHI).
It was agreed that payment would be made directly to the
affected FTHI for doctors and other members of staff that have been
authenticated, and a soft copy would be forwarded to the Ministries of Health
and of Labour and Employment, chief medical directors, NARD and the Nigerian
Medical Association (NMA).
And providing evidence before the NARD emergency National
Executive Council (NEC) meeting slated for today, members of the association
that have been authenticated must have received their payment on or before
Friday morning.
The Federal Government noted that the shortfalls were
basically experienced by those not on the IPPIS platform termed ‘non-regular
allowances/payments’.
It was also noted that the Office of Accountant General of
the Federation (OAGF) is currently capturing the paramilitary staff on IPPIS
platform and would be ready to deal with members of NARD by first week of
October, precisely on October 4, 2017.
So, it is expected that the 100% payment would be
implemented as from October 2017, as September salaries are already at an
advanced stage of preparation. Any shortfall that occurs is to be treated
together with that of August 2017.
The role of the Cash Management Department and PICA in the
payment of the Non Regular Allowances (Non IPPIS), and in finding a permanent
solution to the issue of salary shortfalls was acknowledged.
The meeting resolved that the ministers of Labour and
Employment, and Health, together with the Budget Office of the Federation, and
one member each of NARD and NMA would soon discuss the matter with the
ministers of Finance, and Budget and Planning.
NARD was assured that notwithstanding IPPIS coming into
existence in October, 2017, the arrears accumulated in salary shortfalls on the
Non Regular Platform would be paid based on the old payment regime and
liquidated.
On the failure to circularise house officers’ entry point,
it was noted that the Ministry of Health National Salaries Income and Wages
Commission (NSIWC) had made a computation of the financial implications for
them amounting to approximately N422, 564,729.34 and that the monetary problem
of their entry step would be captured in the 2018 budget.
On the failure to correct stagnation of promotion, it was
concluded that while the appeal filed by the Ministry of Health in the Appeal
Court against the judgment of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN)
on skipping is pending, skipping for doctors should, however, continue as it
currently applies to other health workers, and that hospitals that are yet to
implement skipping for doctors are to commence.
It was also resolved that there should be no “same scale”
promotion except at the terminal grade level and in accordance with the Public
Service Rules. Payment for skipping shall stop if the Appeal Court invalidates
it.
The failure to enroll NARD members on the IPPIS was also
tackled as the meeting concluded that based on the information given by members
of NARD, it was noted that only 18 federal tertiary health institutions have so
far submitted their nominal roll.
The meeting agreed that NARD members should be on the IPPIS
platform and that the CMDs as well as the MDs should be requested by the
Ministry of Health to submit their nominal roll to the Office of the Accountant
General of The Federation (OAGF) and copy to the Ministry of Health and that of
Labour and Employment on or before September 15, 2017.
The meeting admitted and considered a letter by the Federal
Ministry of Finance on “Re: Stoppage of Budgetary Provision And Deduction at
source For the Contributory Pension Scheme For Resident Doctors” which
reaffirmed the earlier position taken that resident doctors are entitled to the
Contributory Pension Scheme.
The Federal Government is to appeal to state governments and
organisations that owe salary shortfalls/emoluments to health workers to make
genuine efforts to liquidate them in the spirit of revamping the health care
system in the country.
It was, therefore, agreed that NARD national officers would
present the outcome of the re-negotiated Memorandum of Terms of Settlement to
an emergency meeting of its members by today with a view to suspending the
strike once there is evidence of payment of the mandate as presented to the
meeting.
Both parties agreed that members of NARD would not be
victimised as a result of this strike if suspended, after the emergency
meeting.
The agreement was signed by the NMA President, Prof. Mike
Ogirima; NARD President, Dr Onyebueze John; Minister of State, Ministry of
Labour and Employment, Prof. Stephen Ocheni; Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac
Adewole; and his Labour and Employment counterpart, Dr. Chris Ngige, among
others.
The Secretary General of NMA, Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu, in a
telephone interview with The Guardian yesterday said: “There were grey areas
with the first MoU. We have reached agreement on a number of issues and have
signed a new MoU. What is left is for the NARD executives to take the issues
agreed on to their emergency congress scheduled for Friday (today). If their
members are okay with the positions we have taken, then they may decide to
suspend or call off the strike.”
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