ASUU differs as FG drops IPPIS payment for tertiary institutions
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has differed with the Federal Government over the reported removal of the union from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System.
On Monday, an online report (not The PUNCH) stressed that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation had confirmed the deactivation of the IPPIS for federal tertiary institutions.
It added that the Director of Press and Public Relations at the OAGF, Bawa Mokwa, in an interview, stated, “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, in an interview with the National President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, said it was simply a misuse of words, adding that the guidelines still insisted that universities should send their salaries to IPPIS for verification and screening.
He said, “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.
“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.”
“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, over time, claimed the government template would enslave intellectuals, as it did not make provisions for payment of arrears of promotion, study leave allowance, or responsibility allowance, among others.
The union said that the IPPIS template was designed to phase out university lecturers above 60 years against the new policy where professors retired at 70 years, saying forceful imposition of the IPPIS on university workers violated the University Autonomy Act.
Following the controversies over the IPPIS, the union developed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as an alternative but it was not adopted by the Federal Government.
Other university unions, including the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, when contacted by our correspondent, said they were unaware of the development.
Osodeke, however, revealed that ASUU would be having its major meeting with the renegotiation team instituted by the Federal Government.
In an interview with The PUNCH, he revealed “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.”
CONUA seeks payment of withheld salaries
The Congress of University Academia, on Monday, demanded the immediate release of over three months of salary of its members withheld by the Federal Government.
The group which declared that the government’s refusal to pay the outstanding salary could throw universities in the country into crisis, also decried the non-release of Earned Academic Allowance covering a period of over 10 academic sessions.
CONUA, in a press statement signed by its National President, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, obtained in Osogbo, Osun State, on Monday, said the period covered by the withheld salaries was the three and half months during which lecturers belonging to ASUU embarked on strike.
Sunmonu said CONUA members did not call for or embark on industrial action during the period, adding that withholding their salaries was against the July 25, 2023 judgment of the National Industrial Court, which affirmed CONUA as an independent union.
“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.
“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.
“The Federal Government’s action actually goes against the judgment delivered on 25th July 2023 at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), which affirmed CONUA as an independent union.
“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.”
