Below is the latest you need to know:

1. Strike: N30bn earned allowance to be shared between ASUU, NASU, SSANU, others — FG

The federal government has said that the contentious earned allowances, promised to be released for the striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), will also be shared with non-academic staff unions.

A meeting between the negotiating teams of the government and ASUU, last week, held to put a stop to the six-month old strike, resolved that a sum of N30 billion will be paid as part of the unpaid earned allowance to workers.

Meanwhile, after a meeting with representatives of the non-academics on Wednesday, it was agreed that the monies will be shared between the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), and Non Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU).

2. ASUU: Only workers captured by IPPIS will receive salaries — Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari has said only federal workers who have been captured by the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) platform will continue to receive salaries.

Mr said this when he presented the 2021 budget of N13.08 trillion to the joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja on Thursday.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), currently on strike, has vowed never to accept the IPPIS platform, as demanded by the government.

ASUU says it has developed an alternative salary platform for university workers.

The ASUU national president, Biodun Ogunyemi, said the union’s ongoing strike would continue in spite of the government’s decision to reopen schools shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Nigerian govt not carrying us along on COVID-19 – ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the federal government of not consulting Nigerian research institutions and university-based scholars in the fight against COVID-19 and other national challenges.

The national president of ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi, in a statement on Wednesday, said the same attitude of the government had “brought our universities to their knees and deprived them of capacity to respond to national challenges.”

The coronavirus pandemic has assailed the world since the beginning of this year with the global tally of confirmed cases exceeding 21 million.

Nigeria has so far recorded 49,895 infections with nearly a thousand deaths.

There is yet no globally approved COVID-19 cure or vaccine. Although clinical trials of vaccines are still ongoing in many countries, Nigeria is not involved in any at the moment.

4. ASUU kicks against enrolment of federal universities in IPPIS

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has kicked against the enrolment of federal universities in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).

President Muhammadu Buhari recently issued a directive for the implementation of the IPPIS for the payment of salaries of all federal government workers.

The president said any worker not on the platform will not receive salary with effect from October 31.

But the Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Abuja Zone, Theophilus Lagi, said at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday that the IPPIS will undermine university autonomy.

The IPPIS is an information Communications Technology (ICT) project initiated by the government to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of payroll administration for its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).