Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said the request by the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, for Biometric Verification Numbers (BVNs) of members of the union to pay lecturers, who have been denied their salaries since March 2020, is illegal.

The ASUU chairman, University of Ibadan Prof Ayo Akinwole, made this known in a May Day release issued in Ibadan on Friday, entitled: ‘This Mountain Shall be Removed.’

According to him, lecturers in public universities have always been paid through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from Abuja, adding that the details of payment of lecturers are with the Federal Government.

President Muhammadu Buhari had directed that all lecturers being owed February and March salaries be paid without attaching any condition to it. However, ASUU alleged that the Office of the AGF disregarded the order of President Buhari to pay all striking lecturers by April 24, 2020 by purportedly trying to work with the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) officers in order to allegedly obtain fraudulent kickbacks and railroad members into the ‘illegal’ platform.

Akinwole stated: “Section 1.6 of the CBN Regulatory Framework for BVN shows clearly those who are entitled to request for BVN and defines the procedure for obtaining it. Such eligible entities may have access to BVN after obtaining a valid court order and subject to approval of the CBN.

“The Accountant-General of the Federation is neither eligible nor has he obtained a valid court order or approval from the CBN. This is another case of illegality. A BVN is very private instrument and should not be put in public space. It can easily be used for fraudulent activities. Staff emails and phone numbers are regularly sold to private organisations by government agencies. To entrust one’s BVN to them will amount to committing suicide.

“Besides, government has the resources to verify financial information of staff from banks without requiring individuals to submit their BVNs to questionable sources.”

ASUU said that it remained committed to the reasons it is currently on strike which are the revitalisation of public varsities through adequate funding, renegotiation of her agreements with government, full implementation of outstanding agreements and payment of academic earned allowances from 2012 till date, and ensure that visitation panels are constituted to visit the universities.

The union stated that it is not on strike because of IPPIS but because of the lamentable infrastructure, unfulfilled agreements and demeaning welfare system of Nigerian intellectual community.