The Academic Staff Union of Universities has accused the Federal Government of frustrating efforts to resolve issues that led to the ongoing strike action embarked upon by the lecturers .

The National President , Prof Biodun Ogunyemi , said this on Politics Today , a programme aired on Channels Television and monitored by news correspondent .

He explained that the Federal Government has refused to take the necessary steps in addressing the strike action .

According to him , the delay in adopting ASUU ’ s preferred platform , the University Transparency and Accountability Solution , is one of the major reasons why the strike has not been suspended.

He said , “ The strike is still on as a result of the FG not taking the necessary steps. We gave them two weeks to address our five points demands.

“ We engaged the government but they were not forthcoming . They had a whole year to address those issues . They gave us positions that were not acceptable to our members .

“ During our first meeting , we thought they were almost resolving the issues .

“ What compounded the problem is the issue of IPPIS. We have said that it is a distraction . There is no university in the world that IPPIS is being used .

“ We have done three presentations of UTAS to the Minister of Education and his team, the leadership of Senate and Office of the Accountant- General . They only agreed that UTAS is accepted in principles .

“ We are almost getting UTAS approved but govt is saying that our members should first migrate to IPPIS before returning to UTAS . That makes no economic sense . The government has made it difficult for smooth negotiation . They said our members will be paid when they move to IPPIS. ”

Punch