![Strike: ASUU’s Proposed Payment Platform Has No Hardware Backing, Says Ngige](https://www.informationng.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/asuu-strike-is-boosting-endsars-protest-chris-ngige.jpg)
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige has expressed that the payment platform proposed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) does not have hardware backing.
Recall that the union has been on strike for over eight months in protest against the Federal Government’s preferred Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
In a bid to solve the problem, the union developed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) software.
He gave an update on the whole situation while speaking with State House correspondents on Tuesday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Also Read: Prepare For Resumption Next Week – ASUU Tells Nigerian Students
Ngige revealed that the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was conducting an integrity test on the software, stating that the integrity test will last between 6-8 weeks.
Ngige explained that the Federal Government did not make provision for the procurement of the UTAS hardware in the budget.
“As we speak, ASUU has no hardware and UTAS does not have hardware backing.
“I am waiting for the NITDA full report, but in the preliminary report they gave me, the software integrity test will take them about six to eight weeks and thereafter, we go to the hardware. But the big issue is, ‘who will provide the hardware?’
“ASUU doesn’t have the finances to do so. Has government budgeted for it now as we speak? So, that one is a major problem.” Ngige said.