IPPIS controversy: Senate begs ASUU to shelve strike

Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, made the appeal at a meeting the Senate leadership held with ASUU members.

 

Lawan noted that as part of government, it is the duty of the upper chamber to ensure that disagreements with government are resolved in the interest of the country and its institutions.

He noted that ASUU is required to work to ensure that universities remain open.

Lawan said: “We are all in this together and we believe that the Nigerian education sector especially the tertiary needs serious support.

“We know that you have made some sacrifices and that you have put in your best with the little given to you.

“The legislature is always prepared to take necessary steps to ensure that the tertiary institutions remain open and functional.

“We are part of government and I believe that issues like this should be resolved.

My worry has always been why government will sign agreements that it knows are difficult and sometimes impossible to implement.

“I believe that we should be looking at all the issues and suggestions that have been raised.

“I’m happy that you have made your point and I’m also happy that the federal ministry of finance is thinking of addressing the issues as well.

“I will like to know how they intend to do it. I’m meeting with the minister of finance to tell us what exactly is to be done because we do not want any strike.

“As for funding, the truth is we can only do our best at this stage. We have serious financial challenges in terms of budgetary allocations.

“This one should be known to everyone. But it is also our duty as the National Assembly to ensure that any revenue due to the federal government of Nigeria is captured and remitted properly.

“So that when we have sufficient revenues, we can fund our educational sector better.

“We will work hard on this but I want to assure you that in the legislature, you have partners. We will work with you to ensure that we resolve these issues.

“We’ll start with you today and then we’ll invite the government’s side let them tell us what they are doing.

“When you say government will fund universities, government will have to check how these funds are utilised but then, there have to be a mutual understanding that when they provide funds, the funds are properly channeled and the tertiary institutions can account for the funds.”

ASUU President, Proferssor Biodun Ogunyemi, on the position of the union noted that for all intents and purposes, it cannot be said that ASUU’s opposition to IPPIS is an endorsement of corruption in the Nigerian University System.

He said that rather, it is Government’s inaction or failure to implement the outcomes of visitation exercises that is encouraging corruption.

Ogunyemi said that technically IPPlS is a scam that creates more problems than it resolves to buttress

He added that the “AGF claims that the goal of IPPIS is to engender transparency, accountability and probity in government expenditure. However, to combat corruption in either financial management or personnel and payroll management, the preferred strategy is decentralization and not centralization.”

The IPPIS, he said, has in-built mechanism for escalating corruption when payroll is centralized.

He said, “In the recent past, successive governments had set up Visitation Panels whose recommendations were never put to effective use. A clear example is the University of Abuja where a Special Visitation Panel was set up in 2012. ASUU took a special interest in the matter because our union thought it would send the appropriate warning signals to other universities that were not properly managed. We monitored the processing of the report to the point of the White Paper. Unfortunately, to the chagrin of our union, nothing came out of the exercise”

Ogunyemi insisted that the IPPIS should not be run within the university system in the country.

The umbrella body of academic staff of Nigerian universities described IPPIS as a violation of university autonomy

It noted that the Federal Government’s Agreements with ASUU peculiarities, nature and structure of Nigerian Universities, the foreseeable consequences of IPPIS, proposals and conclusion it said:

“The broad goal of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), according to the Accountant-General of the Federation is to ensure transparency, accountability and probity, with its specific objectives as (a) Centralization of payroll systems of the Federal Government (b) facilitating easy storage, updating and retrieval of personnel records for administrative and pension processing (c) ascertain the actual personnel emoluments of the Federal Government, (d)aid the manpower planning and budgeting and (e) comply with global best practice.

“The centralization of payroll is a violation of University Autonomy. It contradicts the principle of the superiority of the Governing Council in the control and management of university funds, and employment and promotion of staff.

“Universities all over the world have a tradition of independence and complete separation from the structure of the civil service. The attempt to bring Nigerian Universities under a general practice that is meant for the civil service will not only undermine University Autonomy; it will also infringe on Academic Freedom, and consequently retard the efforts of our Country to develop the much sought-after knowledge-based economy. In particular, ASUU would like to draw the attention of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) to the Principle of University Autonomy as enshrined in section 2AA of the Universities Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Act 2003 which states:

“The powers of the Council shall be exercised, as in the Law and Statutes of each university and to that extent, establishment circulars that are inconsistent with the Laws and Statutes of the university shall not apply to the universities.”

The ASUU President concluded: “ASUU strongly believes the introduction of IPPIS in the Federal Universities, which is not backed by law, will only compound the problem of regular flow of fund and personnel management, rather than resolve it.