ASUU strike: FG agrees to merge IPPIS with UTAS

The federal government has agreed to merge its Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) with the payroll software proposed by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in a truce pact.

ASUU had commenced a two-week warning strike to compel the federal government to implement its 2019 agreement and resolution with the union.

The union has also been at loggerheads with the federal government over its refusal to enroll in the IPPIS. It proposed an alternative software to IPPIS — the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).

On Thursday, both parties were said to have reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to merge UTAS and IPPIS, after a five-hour meeting in Abuja.

According to ThisDay, Chris Ngige, minister of labour, said both parties resolved that modalities would be set out on how to merge IPPIS and UTAS.

Ngige said the meeting was adjourned till next week to enable ASUU to consult with its members towards coming up with suggestions on how to achieve the merger.

“Issues we discussed we used the memorandum of action which we entered into in February 2019; we used it to look at issues that are outstanding, issues that have not been fully addressed,” he said after the meeting.

“We moved to issues bordering on the non-capturing of some ASUU members on the IPPIS platform, which resulted in the withholding of salaries and allowances of most ASUU members.

“Discussions were open and both sides realised that we are working for our country and that whatever arrangement we put in place would be for a better Nigeria. ASUU has developed UTAS.

“We had some preliminary agreements on what is to be done to accommodate the two systems and ASUU has to get back to their members, consult the executive committee and members first.

“This is so they can agree on the modus operandi of trying to couple the two systems. In that respect, we are continuing discussions. The meeting is adjourned till Monday Tuesday.”

Biodun Ogunyemi, president of ASUU, also disclosed that the union will consult with its members on the federal government’s proposal and meet on a later date.

“From our own side we would say that we had a frank session, frank engagement and issues were thrown up. Those issues like the minister rightly mentioned came from outstanding issues in the February 2019 Memorandum of Action which has tended to be overshadowed by IPPIS,” he said.

“From the discussion we had we agreed that we will go and consult that the proposals that came up we cannot pronounce on them until we consult with our members”.