The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said the Federal Government is still using the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) to pay lecturers salaries.
In an interview, the National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, complained that the FG had yet to implement its promise to remove tertiary institutions from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System platform, adding that the February salary was paid through IPPIS.
In December 2023, the FG announced that tertiary institutions, including universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, had been exempted from the platform.
The IPPIS, unveiled in 2006, is a government initiative aimed at streamlining payroll for government ministries, departments, and agencies.
It was later extended to universities and colleges but was vehemently rejected by the workers who embarked on a protracted strike in 2020, and 2021,
They complained of several irregularities associated with IPPIS.
Osodeke added that none of the union’s demands had been fulfilled.
In September 2023, the government announced an upward review of the salaries of tertiary institution workers by 35 percent, backdated to January 2023.
It also promised to pay four months’ salaries out of the seven and a half months withheld during the 2022 national strike.
Some other demands of ASUU, including payment of Earned Academic Allowance, and the unprogressive renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, had at various times led to incessant strikes in government-owned universities.
He maintained that there had been no official communication from FG, adding that everything was at a standstill.
Speaking on whether ASUU would embark on a strike to agitate their demands, Osodeke said, “Our members will decide; that is the reason we have been going on strike, even for salary reviews, yet nothing has been done. Our February salary was paid with IPPIS, so nothing has been done or implemented. The government should do the needful and implement all the agreements they had with us.”
Osodeke also said that ASUU would soon make its decision known through a press release.
