THE Academic Staff Union of Universities has asserted that the Federal Government continues to utilize the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) for paying lecturers’ salaries.
ASUU’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, expressed dissatisfaction in an interview, stating that the government had not followed through on its pledge to remove tertiary institutions from the IPPIS platform, as the February salary was still paid through IPPIS.
In December 2023, the government stated that tertiary institutions, including universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, had been excluded from the IPPIS.
The IPPIS, introduced in 2006, was initially designed to streamline payroll for government ministries, departments, and agencies, but was later extended to universities and colleges, leading to strong opposition from workers who went on a prolonged strike in 2020 and 2021 due to various irregularities associated with IPPIS.
Osodeke emphasized that none of the union’s demands had been met.
In September 2023, the government announced a 35% salary increase for tertiary institution workers, retroactive to January 2023, and pledged to pay four months’ salaries out of the seven and a half months withheld during the 2022 national strike. However, other demands, such as payment of Earned Academic Allowance and the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, have resulted in frequent strikes in government-owned universities.
Osodeke stated that there had been no official communication from the government, and everything was at a standstill.
When asked about the possibility of ASUU initiating a strike to push for their demands, Osodeke mentioned that the members would decide, highlighting the union’s history of resorting to strikes even for salary reviews, with no tangible progress.
He urged the government to fulfill its commitments and implement the agreements made with ASUU. Additionally, Osodeke noted that ASUU would soon announce its decision through a press release.
