National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof Emmanuel Osodeke National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, spoke to LAWRENCE NJOKU, Southeast Bureau Chief, on some pertinent issues concerning the union, particularly salaries and the controversial Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and why improved funding is imperative for tertiary education sub-sector. • x ASUU is at loggerheads with the Federal Government over unresolved issues of salary, IPPIS, and revitalisation of universities. What is the update on these issues? We have a procedure. As you rightly said, a number of our members have not been paid for a long time. Some, as much as 16 months, and we have been meeting with appropriate authorities. We have met with the Minister of Labour, we have also uploaded this to the Chief of Staff to see if he can intervene to avoid a crisis, because of personal interest in IPPIS, which they put as a means of paying our salaries, but up till now, a number of our colleagues are not paid. We don’t know what they have done, no reply, and tension is mounting. I do hope that the Nigerian public will mount pressure on the government to implement the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) it signed with us in December 2020.