The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) recently raised strong objections to the introduction of an automated salary payment system, the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Hmm…I wonder why.
Why would staff of the “Ivory Towers”, the most educated set of people in the land object to a system that is supposedly being implemented to simplify and make the system more efficient?
I smell a rat. And the Nigerian President recently issued a directive for the implementation of the IPPIS for the payment of salaries of all federal government workers.
The president said any worker not on the platform will not receive salary with effect from October 31.
According to ASUU’s national President, Biodun Ogunyemi, IPPIS is a scam and a threat to national security. He adds that the payment system violates university autonomy. He stated that 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 any Act of the National Assembly.”
“The IPPIS is not a home-grown initiative, rather it is a prescription of the World Bank, which ultimate consequence is to create anarchy and therefore, retard the growth and development of Nigeria,” he said.
One of the compliants ASUU levelled against the initiative is that IPPIS does not capture the peculiarities of the structure of the establishment of the university system, which is flexible and pragmatic.
“The system does not, for example, capture the remuneration of staff on sabbatical, external examiners, external assessors, and Earned Academic Allowances. It does not address the movement of staff as in the case of visiting, adjunct, part-time, consultancy service, which academics offer across universities in Nigeria,” he said.
He also said IPPIS as currently implemented requires staff to travel to Abuja for physical biometric data capture if by any chance such staff could not be available during the time the IPPIS personnel visited for the exercise.
“The implementation of IPPlS in Nigerian Universities will further localise their operations and perspectives, thus negatively impacting their ranking in the global academic community,” he added.
Based on the foregoing, I personally don’t see any deal breaker. If the system does not currently address the University’s peculiar nature, it can be adapted to suit the needs.
This does not call for ASUU to go on strike. It planned to go on strike over the implementation of IPPIS
Now true to its word, Government stopped the salaries of ASUU yesterday.
Same yesterday, ASUU, has suspended its planned strike, with its president, Biodun Ogunyemi, disclosing that the union had come up with an alternative pay system for its members. According to him, the proposal would be university-based and could be easily monitored by governing councils.
I wonder if ASUU has something to hide. I see no reason why they should not accede to the government’s request. Afterall, it is one way of fishing out ghostwaorkers and stamping out corruption.
So at this point, I enjoin ASUU to join IPPIS and let country move forward
