The federal government has directed the management of federal universities to submit the staff details of respective institutions to enable it to process the payment of the arrears arising from the implementation of the national minimum wage on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
The directive was conveyed in a letter addressed to all vice-chancellors of federal universities from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), dated October 21 and signed by the Director of IPPIS, Dr. Nsikak Ben and
However, the move to pay the minimum wage arrears on IPPIS comes amidst the stern objection by university staff under the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which had since opposed the implementation of IPPIS in the ivory towers, saying it will retard academic progress.
Given its operational peculiarities, ASUU had called for the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), which is its version of IPPIS, which it believed would better serve its interest.
University lecturers are currently on industrial action, partly to press the government to accede to their demand to among other things be excepted the government payroll platform.
Only recently, the federal government said it had finally resolved to remove all university staff who are yet to be enrolled on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) from its payroll effect from November 2020.
A letter earlier issued by Ben also stated that such staff would cease to receive salaries until they are properly enrolled on the platform.
But the government had maintained that IPPIS would assist it in fighting corruption and waste and provide accurate data about its actual workforce.
