…Ex-lecturers, others on leave of absence too
The use of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) to pay lecturers in 43 federal universities their two months withheld salaries has revealed certain discrepancies, which the Federal Government claimed the new platform was meant to detect and correct.
Some branch chairmen of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) disclosed that the use of the union rejected IPPIS has led to the payment of the February and March salaries to deceased colleagues in some universities.
Other major anomalies, which were uncovered by some ASUU branches, include payment of the two months salaries to academic staff on leave of absence and those who have resigned from the system.
ASUU Bayero University, Kano branch Chairman, Haruna Musa, observed that the salaries were amputated, stating that “our members have witnessed various unexplained deduction which cut across all the ranks.
The branch further said that from it findings, the Federal Government used the September 2019 nominal roll to effect the payment thus members on leave of absence, deceased lecturers and those that have resigned from the services of the university were also paid.
“A member who resigned from the services of BUK in October 2019 informed the chairperson that he received payment of N277,000 and asked how he can return the money.
“There are also cases of over payment and duplicated payments. BUK has already submitted a memo to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) highlighting these anomalies, “ the chairman stated.
According to him, “the observations and many more have vindicated ASUU’s position that IPPIS is callous, obnoxious and incapable of addressing our peculiarities.”
Also Chairman of ASUU, University of Calabar branch, Dr Edor J. Edor, described Friday, May 8, when the OAGF paid the two months withheld salaries as a ‘black Friday’ because the February and March salaries were a mangled distortion of what their paid package ought to be.
Edor revealed that most of its members on sabbatical were not paid, and those who were paid got 50 per cent of their entitlements, staff on adjunct, contact and part-time have not been paid.
“By IPPIS’s judgment, those are either ghost workers, or illegitimate/illegal practices. In fact, 8th May, 2020 turned out a black Friday because of the sinister design intended to balkanise our ranks.
“With the payment of February and March salaries, OAGF has demonstrated to Nigerian that IPPIS, rather than be corruption-proof is corruption-prone. Does IPPIS no longer require biometric information to function? How did they get the biometric data of our members? Has the OAGF violated our members’ rights to confidentiality and/or privacy to illegally obtain our BVNs from CBN?”
