Buhari’s directive on IPPIS not for varsity teachers —ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said on Saturday its members were not affected by President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that only federal workers on Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) would get salaries.

The president had on Thursday called for total compliance with the government’s directive on full enrollment on the IPPIS.

Buhari, who stated this while presenting the 2021 Appropriation Bill to the joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja, insisted that only federal workers captured on the platform would be paid salaries.

He ordered all federal workers to enroll in the IPPIS, declaring that the platform was meant to check fraud, including the payment of salaries to non-existent personnel.

However, the President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, in a chat with journalists in Abuja, said the workers referred to by the president in his address were civil servants.

Ogunyemi said: “The directive was meant for civil servants; university academics are not civil servants.

“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.

READ ASLO: Defiant Buhari insists only workers on IPPIS platform will receive salaries

“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 added that ASUU had on January 9, 2019, reached an understanding with President Buhari 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,” the union president stated.

The university teachers had been on strike since February to register their disapproval of IPPIS.

They also demanded more government funding of the universities.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now