FEC removes universities, polytechnics, and colleges from IPPIS.
Colleges of education, polytechnics, and federal universities are no longer part of the IPPIS.
During their meeting on Wednesday at Abuja’s Presidential Villa, the Federal Executive Council approved the exception.
This is effective immediately, as revealed by Minister of Education Prof. Tahir Mamman during a briefing with other ministers on the outcome of the FEC meeting at the State House.
He further claimed that the FEC had noted that university chancellors could keep working while they processed salaries in Abuja.
There was a dispute between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the continued use of IPPIS to pay university teachers their rights.
The rejection of IPPIS was strongly supported by ASUU VP Chris Piwuna, who also accused the Office of the Head of Service of interfering with university matters, citing university autonomy as a crucial reason.
We refuse to acknowledge that IPPIS exists in any way. “IPPIS will never be accepted on our campuses by ASUU,” he declared.
The oddities at IPPIS are not our concern; rather, it is the autonomy of Nigerian universities. The duties formerly performed by university governing councils and vice chancellors have been assumed by the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation.
“Please, we beg you, remove your interference with the educational institutions.”
The preferred payment platform for ASUU was the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).
In an effort to appease ASUU, the government has agreed to collaborate with the union to tailor IPPIS to university needs and the characteristics of the UTAS, the preferred payment platform for lecturers.