Lecturers are still paid by FG through IPPIS — ASUU

According to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, salaries for lecturers are still being paid by the Federal Government through the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System.

Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the National President of ASUU, expressed dissatisfaction in an interview, stating that the February salary was disbursed via the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), and that the FG has not yet followed through on its pledge to remove tertiary institutions from the platform. The Federal Government (FG) declared in December 2023 that colleges of education, universities, and polytechnics were free from the platform.

A government effort called the IPPIS was announced in 2006 to streamline payroll for government departments, agencies, and ministries.

Later, it was expanded to include colleges and institutions, but the workers fiercely opposed it, going on a lengthy strike in 2020 and 2021. They reported several anomalies related to IPPIS.

None of the union's demands had been met, Osodeke continued. The government announced in September 2023 that the remuneration of employees at tertiary institutions would be reviewed higher by 35%, with effect from January 2023.

Additionally, it committed to paying four months' salary out of the seven and a half months that payments were withheld during the nationwide strike in 2022. Strikes at government-owned colleges have occasionally resulted from ASUU demands, such as the payment of Earned Academic Allowance and the unprogressive renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement.

He insisted there had been no formal word from FG and added that things were at a halt."Our members will decide, that is why we have been going on strike, even for salary review, yet nothing has been done," Osodeke said when asked if ASUU would go on strike to press its demands. IPPIS was used to pay our salary for February, so no action or implementation has taken place. The government ought to take the appropriate action and carry out all of our agreements.

Osodeke added that ASUU would issue a press statement announcing its decision shortly.