The Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS) of the Federal Government has been described as a scam by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) who have insisted that their members won’t be enrolled in the payment system. 

In a statement released on Saturday November 30, by ASUU Chairman (University of Abuja branch) Dr. Kassim Umaru disclosed that the National Executive Council of ASUU has directed its members not to enroll in spite of the directive from the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation that data of university workers and colleges of education must be captured on the system between Monday November 25 and December 7.

The Union questioned why some federal government agencies like the Federal Inland Revenue Services, Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation are not captured on the platform. They added that IPPIS was introduced to stop the payment of their legal entitlement. 

Umaru insisted that the payrol system which has no legal backing is totally in violation of university autonomy. He added that they won’t succumb to threats of non-payment of their salary by the Federal Government. 

 The statement reads: “There is massive corruption in IPPIS. Did government care to investigate IPPIS itself? We are saying why is CBN not in IPPIS? Why is NDIC not in IPPIS? Why is Federal Inland Revenue not in IPPIS? But the lecturers who are just collecting stipends to be pulled into IPPIS so that our legal entitlement will not be paid.

“We are not going to allow it. We are not going to be part of the staff that are going to be enrolled in IPPIS. We took a resolution and we are reaffirming the direction of the national, that is NEC. NEC took a decision that we are not going to get enrolled into IPPIS and you know what our union is actually against is that the university has an autonomy and if you look at it clearly, this autonomy we are saying is enshrined in Section 2AA of the University Miscellaneous Provision Amendment Act of 2003 which clearly explained the role of the Governing Council.

“Even the Miscellaneous Act we are saying clearly stated that the power of the council shall be exercised as in the law and that status of each university. So it is clear we have an autonomy. Again, university is the peculiar nature of the appointment of university as academics. Our 2009 agreement which was negotiated by the federal government and our union is also there. So many issues are there and that is why our union is saying we should be allowed to produce a template which will have all these series of issues but not to have a center point of payment.”