ICYMI: ASUU gives conditions to join IPPIS — ahead of October deadline

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says it would enroll in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) if the national assembly amends acts establishing federal universities in the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari had issued a directive for the implementation of IPPIS to manage the payment of the salaries of all federal government workers while mandating that anyone not registered on the platform — by end of October — will not be paid.

ASUU had reiterated its rejection of the new system, accused the federal government of designing the platform to suppress the masses in the guise of fighting corruption and threatened a nationwide strike if it persisted.

According to Daily Trust, Jamilu Shehu, ASUU’s Sokoto zonal chairman, said the association would enroll in the platform if constitutional provisions establishing Nigerian universities are amended as IPPIS isn’t supported by any act of the national assembly.

Shehu, who spoke on Wednesday at the end of the association’s meeting at the Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, said the union is worried because IPPIS violates the provisions of the establishment act of all federal universities and that a forceful enrollment infringes on their autonomy.

“Contrary to the law expressly backing the governing councils of each federal university to exercise full control over the finances of the universities, IPPIS lacks constitutional backing, neither is it supported by an act of the national assembly,” he said.

“ASUU is determined to oppose any policy that is aimed at thwarting the educational advancement of the country. If the government insists on stopping the salaries of the university staff for not joining IPPIS, the Union’s policy of ‘No Pay, No Work’ will definitely be implemented.”

On the other conditions, he requested that the country’s authorities address all grey areas with regards to sabbatical, external examiners, external assessors and earned academic allowances as well as capturing the appropriate retirement ages for university workers.

Ahmed Idris, the accountant-general of the federation (AGF), had on Tuesday described ASUU’s opposition to the compulsory enrollment of all federal government staff to the IPPIS as an “open endorsement of corruption”.

According to him, the government remained unwavering in the October 31 deadline it gave all ministries, departments, and agencies to enroll in the platform as “there is nowhere employees dictate to employers as to how he or she should be paid.”