By Henry Uche and Adanna Nnamani, Abuja

As the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) extends its strike for another one month, President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Emmanuel Osodeke has accused federal bureaucrats of sabotaging the union’s negotiations with the government.

ASUU on Monday extended its six months long strike by another four weeks.

The union embarked on an industrial action in February because of government’s failure to fully address its demands bothering on condition of service, earned allowances, university fundings, payments system amongst others.

Speaking on aTelevision programme, yesterday, Osodeke said negotiations with government have been futile due to behavior of some government officials at the federal level.

According to him, a worker at the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission (NSIWC), a government establishment supervised by the ministry of finance, reportedly lied to the government that ASUU threw him out of one of the negotiations. The ASUU president said actions like this have made negotiations with the federal government fruitless and further stretching the strike.

     “We would finish the process and conclude negotiations, but all we would hear is that ASUU chased out some officials. one Mr Zara in National Salaries, Income and Wages, went and lied to the government that we chased him out of meetings.

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“The good thing is that we have all the minutes of the meeting where he attended each of them but he went and lie to just scatter the process. That’s what they have been doing.

“The people scattering these things, not even the political elites, are the bureaucrats. Why would you tell the government that they chased you out of negotiation when you know it’s a lie.

“This is how they keep on putting wedges. We will finish and they will throw wedges on it. And that is why we are where we are today.”

Osodeke faulted the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) salary structure describing it as a concocted framework imposed on Nigeria from outside.

He also described the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as another form of corruption that has done more harm than good to the country. Osodeke made these known in an interview, monitored yesterday in Lagos.

Addressing issues surrounding the ongoing industrial action, he said every item in the list of ASUU’s demand was important and  must be met by the Federal Government.

“IPPIS is no body’s child, it was forced on this country. How can a country with various intelligentsia go abroad and look for how to pay salary? In 2014, when IPPIS was introduced, we told them it will not work, because we discovered that so many things are wrong with IPPIS.  Why would a Giant of Africa go to someone abroad to tell us how to pay salary? It’s shameful the whole world is laughing at us.”