Senate begs ASUU to shelve strike – TheNigerialawyer

The Senate on Monday appealed to the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) to shelve its proposed strike over enrollment
of its members in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information
System (IPPIS).

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.