“We’ll Not Accept Enrollment Into IPPIS” — #ASUU Tells Nigerian Govt

The Federal Government has been told by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to leave out the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS) as a condition to call off its strike.

The government has been at loggerheads with ASUU since it initiated a nationwide strike action in March over IPPIS as well as a disagreement pertaining to the revitalization of universities and earned academic allowances.

In a statement on Sunday, the union’s president, Biodun Ogunyemi, said the strike may still linger on if FG fails to meet its demands.

Accordimg to him, the dialogue had come to a stalemate after FG insisted that the payment of the withheld salaries and other entitlements of its members would only be effected through the IPPIS.

Ogunyemi said, “Our Union is struggling to ensure that the children of the poor, who cannot afford the prohibitive cost paid in private universities or do not have opportunities to study outside Nigeria, get quality education.

“This will only happen when FG adequately funds public universities and addresses the rot and decay in them.

“ASUU has shifted positions in some respects. For instance, our members have reduced their demand of one tranche N220bn of the outstanding revitalization fund by 50 percent.

“The Union has also agreed that N30 billion out of the so-far-verified arrears of N40 billion of the earned academic allowances (EAA) be paid to our members while the balance of N10bn could be spread over the next two tranches.”

The ASUU president said ASUU is at the final stage of integrity test for the Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), an alternative software it had proposed, with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).

He said UTAS has been presented to the minister of education; the leadership of the senate; and the office of the accountant-general, where NITDA and the office of the national security adviser and other MDAs were represented.

Ogunyemi stated that it would take a longer period to capture more than three-quarters of its members who were not yet on IPPIS than the time required to run through the last stage of the integrity test for UTAS.