ASUU’s UTAS software not yet ready

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has said the integrity test being conducted on the software of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution being proposed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities would take between six and eight months to be completed.

ASUU is currently on strike in protest against the Federal Government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System.

In its stead, the union proposed UTAS as an alternative.

Speaking with State House correspondents after a meeting he had with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Ngige said the Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency was conducting the integrity test on the software.

The minister however said while the software was available, there was no hardware to back it up.

He claimed that if the software passed the integrity test being conducted by NITDA, the university teachers do not have the needed fund to procure the necessary hardware for its implementation.

He explained that the Federal Government did not make provision for the procurement of the UTAS hardware in the budget.

He said the decision to send the UTAS software to NITDA for integrity test was based on the fact that the Federal Government will not want to discourage anybody or group from providing homegrown solutions to issues.

He explained further, “The UTAS, that is the University Transparent System which they brought, is not yet ready.