The president Buhari led administration has resolved to stop the payment of University staff that are not enrolled on its payroll system – the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), effective November 2020.
This notice was contained in a letter from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), dated October 8, and signed by the Director of IPPIS, Dr. Nsikak Ben and addressed to all vice chancellors.
The letter which was made available to journalists yesterday stated that such staff will cease to receive salaries until they are properly enrolled on the platform.
“Personnel cost is still our largest single item of expenditure. In the seven months to 31 July, 2020, it accounted for 34 percent of total federal government spending and is projected at 33 percent of 2021 expenditure,” the president said.
The Cable
The correspondence with the title, “Stoppage of Salaries of University Staff that are yet to be Enrolled on IPPIS Platform”, read: “I am directed to inform you that any Staff of your Institution who has not enrolled on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), either as a result of Study Leave (with pay), maternity leave or on medical ground, will no longer appear on the IPPIS payroll with effect from November, 2020 payroll except such Staff presents himseif/herself for the biometric data capture at the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), Abuja with an introduction letter/IPPIS Enrollment forms duly endorsed by the principal authorities of the institution.”
It stated further: “In addition, all supporting documents should include evidence of six months salary bank statement. In view of the above, kindly inform your staff in this category to urgently avail themselves for the biometric data capture at the OAGF. However, exemption may only be given where institutions provide evidence of study leave, stating the duration, to justify such persons being retained on the payroll.
Please accept the assurances of the warm regards of the Accountant-General of the Federation.”
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The interactions between the federal government and the university staff under the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had deteriorated recently over the objection of the latter to be enrolled on the IPPIS payment platform which the government said would help it cut waste and corruption in public service. A move with its core focus on eliminating ghost workers as well as helping to have an accurate number of its actual workforce.
ASUU had maintained that the IPPIS will retard progress in the educational system because of the peculiar nature of its operations and asked for an exemption.
