The Academic Staff Union of Universities has expressed its disagreement with the Federal Government over the reported removal of the union from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.
An online report circulated on Monday, which was not published by The PUNCH, claimed that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation had confirmed the deactivation of the IPPIS for federal tertiary institutions.
According to the report, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, stated in an interview, “It was only natural for the IPPIS platform for FTIs to be shut down, given the Federal Government’s directive to remove these institutions from the system.”
However, ASUU’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, disputed this assertion, claiming it was a misinterpretation.
He emphasized that the existing guidelines still required universities to submit their salaries to IPPIS for verification and screening.
Osodeke stated, “It is not acceptable to us as a union. If you go through the body of the statement, you’ll see where it was noted that the government would still forward names to IPPIS for verification before salaries are paid.” He voiced concerns about the implications of this development, saying, “Do you know the number of institutions that we have in the country? To us, this is just a plot to manipulate and complicate things so it is not acceptable.”
He explained further, “This means that over 300 institutions across the country will send their salary data to IPPIS for vetting. Every university should prepare salaries and pay staff after budgets have been passed by the House of Representatives and approved and signed by the President. If they want to remove us from IPPIS, why should IPPIS still verify our salaries?”
ASUU has long criticized the IPPIS system, arguing that the government’s template is designed to subjugate university staff, lacking provisions for essential payments such as promotion arrears, study leave allowances, and responsibility allowances.
The union has also pointed out that the IPPIS framework appears to target university lecturers over 60, contrary to the new policy allowing professors to retire at 70.
They argue that the mandatory imposition of IPPIS on university personnel undermines the University Autonomy Act.
In response to the challenges posed by the IPPIS, ASUU proposed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as an alternative system, but this proposal has yet to be embraced by the Federal Government.
Other academic unions, including the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, indicated they were not informed of the recent developments.
As the situation evolves, Osodeke revealed that ASUU is scheduled for a significant meeting with the Federal Government’s renegotiation team.
He commented, “There’s nothing new to report at the moment. We will be meeting with the government soon, and we will inform you whether we will go on strike or not. Until after that meeting, we cannot determine if the outcome will be positive. We hope for a favourable response, as this will be our first major meeting. The previous meeting was held to establish guidelines for the renegotiation of our 2009 agreement.”
In a related matter, the Congress of University Academia has demanded the immediate payment of over three months’ salary for its members that the Federal Government has withheld.
The group warned that the government’s continued refusal to pay the outstanding salaries could plunge universities into crisis and lamented the non-release of the Earned Academic Allowance, which has been pending for more than ten academic sessions.
The National President of CONUA, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, issued a statement in Osogbo, Osun State, highlighting that the withheld salaries correspond to the three and a half months during which ASUU members engaged in strike action.
He pointed out that CONUA members did not participate in the strike and thus should not be penalized.
“The union wishes to once again call the attention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) to the continued withholding of the three and a half months salary due to the strike action embarked by a sister academic staff union in the universities,” Sunmonu said.
He further asserted, “CONUA, as a union, has consistently maintained that it never declared and was not part of the strike action. What the government had done was to lump together those who embarked on strike with those who did not. This is unjust, and it is tantamount to punishing the innocent along with the guilty.”
Sunmonu referenced a judgment from the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) on July 25, 2023, which recognized CONUA as an independent union, stating, “The President should note that withholding the three and a half months salaries of members of CONUA, who neither declared nor participated in any strike action, also contravenes Section 43 (1b) of the Trade Disputes Act CAP. T8, which states that ‘where any employer locks out his workers, the workers shall be entitled to wages and any other applicable remunerations for the period of the lock-out and the period of the lock-out shall not prejudicially affect any rights of the workers being rights dependent on the continuity of the period of employment.’ This provision is consistent with global best practices.”
