The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Abuja Zone has called for the implementation of exit from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) without further delay.
The Coordinator, ASUU Abuja Zone Dr Salahu Mohammed-Lawal at a briefing in Abuja, said the Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by President Bola Tinubu had in December 2023, approved the exit of workers in all public universities and other tertiary institutions from IPPIS.
Dr Mohammed-Lawal said five months after the approval, the implementation had not been achieved.
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He explained that the enrolment of all federal universities into the IPPIS, which ASUU rejected, grossly violated university autonomy and usurps the powers of universities governing councils.
‘’We are surprised that over five months after the federal government realised the inadequacies of the platform and ordered the exit of tertiary institutions from it.
“Our members are now being curiously paid under the “New IPPIS” platform.
“This violates the understanding reached at the Jan. 11 stakeholders meeting at the National Universities Commission (NUC) which gave birth to a guidelines for good governance and financial management in tertiary institutions post IPPIS exit of April 8, 2024.
“As a union, our position on this sensitive issue remains unchanged!’’ he said.
Mohammed-Lawal called on the federal government to release arrears of earned academic allowances, promotion arrears and withheld salaries.
He said the union was worried that the federal government had not paid the arrears of the earned academic allowances as captured in the 2023 budget.
He further said the federal government was yet to pay the three and half month’s salaries withheld during the unfortunate 2022 nationwide strike action to lecturers in federal universities.
According to him, ‘’The union feels betrayed that the federal government has not paid the arrears of the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) especially since a portion of the allowances was captured in the 2023 Budget.
” Nigerians should note that the scheduled payment was not only abandoned, but the mainstreaming of EAA as from 2022 has continued to remain a fantasy in federal and most state universities.
” Similarly, the federal government is yet to pay the three and half months salaries withheld during the unfortunate 2022 nationwide strike action to our members in the federal universities.
“Again, our members in many state universities are being owed arrears of EAA withheld salaries, third-party deductions, and other entitlements due to them’’.
Mohammed-Lawal said ASUU rejected the proliferation of universities without proper funding while stressing the need to review the NUC Act to make it more potent in arresting the continued establishment of universities without plans for proper funding.
He further called on government at all levels to quickly conclude the reconstitution of governing councils of all public universities.
