Edozie Udeojo,Abuja
University Lectures react
The Federal Government has ordered that salaries of any university worker, who is not enrolled on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), be stopped with effect from November 2020.
Recall that President Buhari, while presenting the 2021 Budget at a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday, said that only federal workers captured by the IPPIS would continue to receive salaries.
He ordered all federal workers to enrol into the IPPIS platform, declaring that the platform was meant to check fraud, including the payment of salaries to non-existent personnel.
He said that the platform would also check the payment of unauthorised allowances.
A new directive contained in a memo from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) with reference number OAGF/IPPIS/446/1/159 and dated October 8, 2020 has now enforced the threat
It was signed by the Director, IPPIS, Nsikak Ben, for the AGF.
The memo was issued to all university Vice-Chancellors through the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigeria, Federal Universities.
“I am directed to inform you that any staff of your institution who has not enrolled on the IPPIS, either as a result of study leave (with pay), maternity leave or on medical ground, will no longer appear on the IPPIS payroll.
“This is with effect from November 2020, except such staff presents himself/herself for the biometric data capture at the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Abuja,” the memo read in part.
Such employees would have to appear with an introductory letter/IPPIS enrollment forms duly endorsed by the principal authorities of the institution and evidence of six months’ salary, according to bank statements.
ASUU reacts
The university teachers who are currently on strike say they are not affected by President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that only federal workers on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) would be paid salaries.
Biodun Ogunyemi, President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), made the claim in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), in Abuja.
Mr Buhari, while presenting the 2021 Budget at a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday, said that only federal workers captured by the IPPIS would continue to receive salaries.
He ordered all federal workers to enrol into the IPPIS platform, declaring that the platform was meant to check fraud, including the payment of salaries to non-existent personnel.
He said that the platform would also check the payment of unauthorised allowances.
‘Not our concern’
But Mr Ogunyemi, while reacting to the president’s directive, said ”the workers referred to were civil servants.”
“The directive was meant for civil servants; university academics are not civil servants,” he said. “We have an understanding with the government to develop an alternative platform which would be sensitive to the operations of the university and accommodate its peculiarities.
“The platform we are developing will also respect the autonomy of our universities as obtained globally.
“The idea of seeking clearance from the Head of Service or the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation is alien to university operations because it will halt its flexibility.
“The University Miscellaneous (Provisions) (Amendment)Act (2003), which government gazetted as University Autonomy Act (2007), has vested the powers of personnel and payroll system issues in the hands of each university’s governing council,” he said.
He added that ASUU, on January 9, 2019, ”reached an understanding with Mr President to develop its proposed University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), for testing and adoption for managing personnel information and payroll system in the universities”.
“We have since done that and presented to the Federal Ministry of Education. What is left is to present to other major stakeholders, particularly in the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
“The development of UTAS was done at no cost to the government. We used contributions from the check-off deductions of ASUU members to finance the project and this cost us millions of naira,” he said.
The university teachers have been on strike since February to register their disapproval of government’s insistence that they must be captured on the IPPIS platform if they were to receive salaries.
They have also cited other issues bordering on welfare and more funding for the universities as some of their reasons for abandoning the classrooms.