FG Finally Drops IPPIS, Accepts ASUU's Payment Platform, To End Strike Soon

The Federal Government has finally agreed with the demand by the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) to exempt the union from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System(IPPIS).

Following the fresh agreements  reached between the two parties, the eight months old strike in public universities in Nigeria, is expected to end, with students returning to classrooms for normal academic atjrctivities. .

ASUU had in the previous meetings over the strike, disagreed sharply with the  government who insisted that salaries of all workers including the striking Lecturers at the Federal universities must be paid  using the IPPIS payment platform. 

But the government negotiating team led by the Labour and Employment Minister, Dr. Chris Ngige at the resumed meeting with ASUU on Friday in Abuja, shifted grounds on a number of issues, including the insistence that all the academic staff of the federal universities must be paid through the IPPIS platform.

The minister after seven hours of meeting with the union, read out the communique  saying  government also agreed to ASUU’s demand to pay their members’ salary arrears from February to June through the old salary payment platform, Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System.

Federal Government according to Ngige , is reviewing how the lecturers will be paid using the old platform,

“We are also reviewing how the lecturers will be paid on the old platform until UTAS is ready for usage",he stated.

“We agreed also that the withheld salaries are the component of the issue of ‘no work, no pay’ that was invoked and the Minister of Education and myself are working on that to get approval for the lifting of the embargo, the minister further revealed

According to him “This is a transition period between the formalization of UTAS, and as soon as we finish this, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, the National Universities Commission  and the Vice Chancellors are to work together to make sure that the withheld salaries are paid through the old platform which the Accountant General’s office used in paying the salaries of university workers that were not captured on IPPIs for the months of February, March, April, May and June.”

The minister disclosed further that government also offered to raise the Earned Allowances to university staff from N30bn to N35bn as well as  the revitalization fund which increased  N20bn to N25bn.