ASUU shelves proposed strike over IPPIS dispute with FG

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has suspended its proposed strike over the directive of the federal government to enroll its members into the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

According to NAN, Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU president, on Thursday, said that the union had decided to maintain status quo, pending further meetings.

The federal government had mandated that anyone not registered on the platform will not be paid as from October 31 but ASUU rejected the directive, arguing that the payment system does not conform to the union’s agreement with the federal government.

It subsequently threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if the federal government fails to remit the salaries of its members by the end of October 2019.

“What we have been saying is that the reaction of our members will depend on what happens in the government. Our members will meet at the appropriate time to take appropriate decision,” Ogunyemi said.

“The Senate has intervened in the matter and we are engaging the Senate, the Senate has appealed to us for now, When they pay other workers, they pay them also.”

Ogunyemi said the union is proposing another template which would factor in the peculiarities of the universities and promote their interest.

“The point we are making is that we have visited the Senate President, told him that there is an alternative to IPPIS, the IPPIS as we see it, will not promote the interest of the university, there is no university or country in the world where the payment of university workers is centralised with the government,” he said.

“IPPIS will affect our ranking, because now scholars from different parts of the world will not be encouraged to come to Nigeria.

“It is ridiculous, and that is what the autonomy means, that universities should govern their personnel, and their pay role system.

“We are saying it is not safe, we are going to become a laughing stock among committee of universities.”

He said that what the union wanted was a “governing council” that would govern and manage the payroll of ASUU members.

“If government does that, it is the council that the government will hold responsible, that is what the law says, and where a council is found to be corrupt, or incompetent, that council should be dissolved and another council should be put in place,” he said.

“Our proposal is that there should be a mechanism that will enable the government to monitor the payroll system and the personnel. At the appropriate time, we will release it to the Nigerian public.”