The Academic Staff Union of Universities has differed with the Federal Government over the reported removal of the union from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.
On Monday, Pqconnect reported that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation had confirmed the deactivation of the IPPIS for federal tertiary institutions.
It added that the Director of Press and Public Relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, in an interview, stated, “It was only natural for the IPPIS platform for FTIs to be shut down, given the Federal Government’s directive to remove these institutions from the system.”
However, in an interview with the National President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, said it was simply a misuse of words, adding that the guidelines still insisted that universities should send their salaries to IPPIS for verification and screening.
He said, “It is not acceptable to us as a union. If you go through the body of the statement, you’ll see where it was noted that the government would still forward names to IPPIS for verification before salaries are paid.
“Do you know the number of institutions that we have in the country? To us, this is just a plot to manipulate and complicate things so it is not acceptable.”
“This means that over 300 institutions across the country will send their salary data to IPPIS for vetting. Every university should prepare salaries and pay staff after budgets have been passed by the House of Representatives and approved and signed by the President.
“If they want to remove us from IPPIS, why should IPPIS still verify our salaries?”
ASUU, over time, claimed the government template would enslave intellectuals, as it did not make provisions for payment of arrears of promotion, study leave allowance, or responsibility allowance, among others.
The union said that the IPPIS template was designed to phase out university lecturers above 60 years against the new policy where professors retired at 70 years, saying forceful imposition of the IPPIS on university workers violated the University Autonomy Act.
Following the controversies over the IPPIS, the union developed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as an alternative but it was not adopted by the Federal Government.
Other university unions, including the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, when contacted, said they were unaware of the development.
Osodeke, however, revealed that ASUU would be having its major meeting with the renegotiation team instituted by the Federal Government.
In an interview with Newmens,Osodeke revealed “There’s nothing new to report at the moment. We will be meeting with the government soon, and we will inform you whether we will go on strike or not.
“Until after that meeting, we cannot determine if the outcome will be positive.
“We hope for a favourable response, as this will be our first major meeting. The previous meeting was held to establish guidelines for the renegotiation of our 2009 agreement.
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