Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Benin Branch. Tuesday 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) saying the policy negates autonomy granted universities.
A press statement titled “IPPIS- The Truth of The Matter” signed by its chairman, Mr Monday Omoregie Joy and secretary, Mr Fabs C. Amaechina and made available to newsmen in Benin City said compelling its members to register with the IPPIS negates the provision Universities Amendment Act 2003 (also called Universities Autonomy Act No1., 2007) and that it also failed to accommodate the peculiarities of the Nigerian University System (NUS).
SSANU spokesperson He said the decision not to cave into 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.
“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.
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) “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”, he said.
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The ASUU chairman said that they 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.
He said if the federal government is ready to fight corruption, it should be disclosed to Nigerians how much it has paid to the firm saddled with the responsibility of the IPPIS.
He said 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.
