
The Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU] has suspended its proposed strike over the Federal Government’s directive to enrol its members into the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System [IPPIS].
President Muhammadu Buhari presented the 2020 budget proposal before the lawmakers on Oct. 8, 2019, he vowed that Federal Government Employees not captured on the IPPIS platform by 31st Oct. 2019 would no longer be receiving their salaries.
ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, in a phone conversation, noted that the union had decided to maintain status quo, pending further meetings.
ASUU had at different fora rejected the deadline, stating that universities operated differently from the civil service and should, therefore, not be seen as appendages of ministries, departments and agencies of government.
According to him, the union is proposing another template which would factor in the peculiarities of the universities and promote their interest.
“Imagine somebody come for short six months and because of IPPIS he is not paid from three to four months, whereas, if they are domesticated in the universities, ASUU will pay them.
“Any university can attract scholars from any part of the world and you do not expect scholars to come from India, China, Australia, America or UK and be coming into Abuja to enrol in IPPIS.
“It is ridiculous, and that is what autonomy means, that universities should govern their personnel and their pay role system.
“We are saying it is not safe, we are going to become a laughing stock among the committee of universities.
“In Ghana, there is something like IPPIS, but universities are not part of it. There is nowhere in the world that payroll is centralised and managed by consultants.”
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