The Academic Staff Union of Universities, University of Benin chapter, yesterday, said it would resist any attempt by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation to force its members to register with the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
This was contained in a press statement titled “IPPIS- The Truth of The Matter” signed by its Chairman and Secretary Mrs. Monday Omoregie Joy and Fabs C. Amaechina, respectively.
The Union said compelling its members to register with the IPPIS negates the autonomy of the Nigerian Federal Universities as enshrined in the Universities Amendment Act 2003 (also called Universities Autonomy Act No1., 2007) and that it also fails to accommodate the peculiarities of the Nigerian University System (NUS).
“For the avoidance of doubt, ASUU Uniben remains an integral and unwavering party to the collective decision of the Union to resist the forceful implementation of IPPIS by the office of the Accountant General of the Federation as (I) it is in gross violation of the autonomy of Nigerian Federal Universities as enshrined in the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Act 2003 (also called Universities Autonomy Act No1., 2007) and (II) it fails to accommodate the peculiarities of the Nigerian University System (NUS)”, the statement said.
He said the decision not to cave in to the wish of the office of the Accountant General of the Federation was unanimously reaffirmed by the Congress of the branch at its emergency meeting of Monday 25th November 2019, held at the ASUU secretariat complex, University of Benin at which it was resolved that “ASUU Uniben aligns with the national leadership of the Union on IPPIS and says no to the deployment of IPPIS in its present state”.
According to the statement, the Union insisted that the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) was driven primarily by selfish interests and motivations rather than the much vaunted claim about stemming the tide of corruption.
It said if the federal government is really ready to fight corruption, it should disclose to Nigerians how much it has paid to the firm saddled with the responsiblity of the IPPIS.
It alleged that the ploy to enlist ASUU into the IPPIS is to emasculate ASUU as a body and abandon all agreements freely reached with it including the renegotiation of the ASUU-FGN 2009 agreement.
The statement warned that ASUU will reactivate its mechanism if its members are being denied their salaries on the ground that they failed to enrol into the IPPIS.
“To this end, we wish to make it abundantly clear that if any single member of the Union is denied his/her salary on account of refusal to be forcibly enrolled onto the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), the Union shall immediately activate its mechanism for dealing with such aberration”, it said.
THE SUN, NIGERIA
