Says 150 institutions now registered on FG’s Diaspora Bridge initiative

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has said the Federal Government, under President Bola Tinubu, is committed to ending industrial actions by unions in tertiary institutions across Nigeria.

Alausa, who spoke on Tuesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today, said that the President had issued a clear directive to his cabinet to prevent future strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other trade unions in the education sector.

According to him, the Federal Government would do this by making use of dialogue and a good relationship with union heads and meeting the demands of the unions.

The minister, while acknowledging the delay in payment of salaries to members of staff of the tertiary institutions, tendered an apology to the unions and assured that the ministry is working with the Minister of Finance to ensure that salaries are paid much earlier.

He said that the challenge in the payment of salaries arose from the government having to process payment for those on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) before settling payment for those on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).
He, however, gave the assurance that the Federal Government would soon be able to harmonise salary payments across the board.

Alausa, while speaking on the Diaspora Bridge initiative launched on Monday, said that 150 institutions in the country had registered for it. According to him, the Diaspora Bridge is a flagship platform aimed at connecting Nigerian professionals abroad with local educational and research institutions through structured collaboration. The platform will operate as a hybrid, both online and offline.

The minister said the initiative would enable Diaspora experts to share their knowledge and expertise with Nigerian universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and teaching hospitals. He, however, gave the assurance that home-based professionals would also be able to use the platform as it is open to all institutions in the country.

The minister explained that both universities and professionals in the Diaspora would register on the initiative’s website, stating that the professionals would serve as volunteers, but the cost of transportation and accommodation for those travelling into the country would be offset by the government.

Alausa, however, said the Ministry of Education is working to consolidate its education system to provide accurate data from schools in each local and state government to monitor efforts on enrolment, others, and incidents of drop-outs and intervene where appropriate.

The minister promised that the ministry would soon move more than a million out-of-school children into the classrooms and provide data on their enrolment.