The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is gearing up for another confrontation with the federal government over planned imposition of integrated personnel payroll system (IPPIS) on its members.
The showdown comes on the back of President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that workers not on the IPPIS would no longer receive salary.
The union leaders called for an emergency national executive council meeting where it reached a conclusion that the leadership at university levels should begin mobilisation of members for an action against the federal government.
Deji Omole, the chairman, ASUU University of Ibadan chapter, on Sunday, said the union is not against accountability but will not allow the government to violate existing laws and autonomy of the university.
Omole also frowned that despite ASUU’s offer to help the government design the appropriate template that will factor in the peculiarities of university lecturers in the IPPIS, the Buhari-led administration appeared to have settled for the World Bank-designed exploitative template.
He said the government’s template was designed to suppress lecturers as it does not make provisions for payment of arrears of promotion, study leave allowance, responsibility allowance among others.
According to the union leader, the government template was designed to phase out university lecturers above 60 years against the new policy where professors retired at 70 years.
“Forceful imposition of IPPIS on university workers is a violation of the university autonomy act. It is therefore illegal,” Omole said.
“While ASUU is not against accountability on the part of the university administrators government should not be allowed to destroy public universities in its purported claims of fighting corruption.
Our members should remained focus and committed in our struggles to protect public university education by resisting forceful imposition of IPPIS on university workers.”
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Despite its shortcomings, the IPPIS payment platform is still the best presently. The best ASUU can do is to develop an alternative payment platform that can correct the shortcomings in IPPIS.
Our administrators are fraudulent & a lot of them feed on ghost workers’ salaries, underpayment of staff & giving multiple appointments to their cronies.
Lecturers in public institutions are employees of government & the institutions funded by government & the VCs appointed by the Visitors to the institutions; so the issue of autonomy does not make sense.
Finally, the academics are the catalysts that induce development in any society. They should be at the forefront of policy formations, critical thinking & life changing innovations & researches.
Unfortunately in Nigeria they are not celebrated nor properly motivated. To become a Prof. & become a politician – VC, electoral officer etc. is now the dream of a lot of academics.
The universities need reformation.
Rightly said. I thought as much.
No matter the matter, Nigeria must move forward. Business no longer as usual.
Long Live FRN