FG, ASUU clash again – TheNigerialawyer

* Enrolment in varsities begins Monday
* We will shun it, UI, UNN, ABU lecturers vow
* It’s pre-emptive to say union won’t comply – FG

The Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of
Universities will  clash again on Monday over the Integrated
Payroll and Personnel Information System, Punch report.

Branches of ASUU in federal universities across the country, in
separate interviews with The PUNCH on Wednesday, vowed to shun
the  registration for IPPIS, which would start on Monday and
end on December 7, 2019.

The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, in an
advertorial in The PUNCH on Wednesday, had directed all staff of
federal universities and colleges of education “to present
themselves for enrolment for the Integrated Payroll and Personnel
Information  System.”

It said the staff should among, others, bring their letters of
appointment, letters of promotion, birth certificates and copies of
their bank statement. The office of the AGF said its officers would
be in the institutions to conduct the exercise.

But ASUU members in institutions such as the University  of
Ibadan, the University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt;  the
University of Nigeria, Nsukka; the Federal University of
Agriculture, Abeokuta; the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, the
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and the University of Calabar,
Calabar, told The PUNCH that their members would not register 
for  the IPPIS.

FG getting dictatorial – UI  ASUU

The Chairman of the union at the UI, Prof. Deji Omole, in an
interview with one of our correspondents, said, “The government is
getting dictatorial.”

He said, “We refuse to be harassed or intimidated. We are not
strangers in this country. We are veritable stakeholders. We cannot
be harassed. We have told them what to do. Let the government come
back to the negotiation table and let’s discuss the grey areas.

“Forceful enlistment will not solve the problem. We are not
disturbed but we are worried, government is getting dictatorial. A
supposedly democratic government is getting dictatorial.”

ASUU, UNIPORT branch vows to shun IPPIS
capture

Also, members of  ASUU at UNIPORT  said that they
would not participate in the enrolment.

The Chairman of the UNIPORT branch of ASUU, Dr Austen Sado, said
the union would not dignify Federal Government’s directive by any
form of compliance, insisting that the IPPIS policy was a violation
of the university laws in the guise of fighting corruption.

Union to sanction errant members

Sado told one of our correspondents that any member of the union
who violated the resolve not to be present for such enrolment,
could risk being disciplined.

He stated, “We are not dignifying that directive with any
response because we have given them our views. We had an
interaction with the Senate and the Senate asked them (the FG) to
make sure that they explore all avenues in resolving it.

“If they (the FG) want to escalate it, there is no problem. But
I can assure you that our members will not make themselves
available for any capture. We have already shown our disdain for
this illegality because it is an illegal policy.

“Our members took a resolution and said that it should be
communicated to government that it (IPPIS) is a violation of the
laws of the university and so, we are all standing together
on  the account that this (IPPIS) is a violation of the law
and we will not help that violation by any form of compliance.

“Government cannot violate the laws of the land under the guise
that they are fighting corruption. If any of our members turns up,
we have an ethics/grievance committee that deals with issues of
violation of our codes.

“Such members would be tried through the provisions of the
constitution at the appropriate time. We will not tell people what
we will do to any errant member. We know what to do with our rules
and we will get our members to be in line with whatever we are
doing,” Sado stated.

On its part,  the UNN branch of the union said none of its
members would  enrol in the IPPIS  unless its national
leadership directed otherwise.

It said that any member that violated the union’s directive
would  have himself  or herself to blame.

The branch Chairman of ASUU, Dr  Christian Opata, who spoke
to one of our correspondents,  warned members not to disobey
the position of the academic body.

Opata said, “Until we get a contrary directive from the national
body, no branch is mandated to do anything for now. We may have our
individual discrepancies, but we keep that to ourselves till we
have a directive from the national body.”

“We cannot even do anything,  if the Federal Government
likes let it transfer Sambisa forest to various universities, no
lecturer is going to enrol until we get a directive from the
national leadership. It is as simple as that.”

We will not disobey national leadership, says
FUNAAB

The Chairman of the FUNAAB branch of ASUU. Dr  Adebayo
Oni,  said the branch was in support of the national
leadership on the IPPIS.

Oni said the branch did not plan to hold any congress over the
plan by the Federal Government to begin the enrolment in the
federal universities.

He said,  “Usually, our union doesn’t disobey our
leadership. Whatever  that has been brought to the public
domain by the office of the accountant general, our union can’t
review except we have directives from our national
secretariat.”

When asked about the possibility of some members turning up for
the exercise, Oni said, “Usually, our members don’t disobey our
orders. The directive of the national  executive council is
very clear until otherwise reviewed by next year. Our members have
to comply with the directive.

“It is not an issue.  We know our members. When there is an
order, our members will comply. Those who you want to talk about
are not members of our union. They will have to comply with the
directive of the National Executive Council.

At  the University of  Calabar, Calabar, Cross River
State, an ASUU leader and  immediate past Chairman of the
union, Dr Tony Eyang, said university lecturers had taken a
decision on the issue.

He stated,  “As a member of ASUU, our union has already
taken a position that  unless all the concerns raised about
the implications of the  IPPIS and its wholesale application
to universities are addressed, we will not subscribe to that
system.

“ There are quite a number of issues bordering on
recruitment,  the peculiarities of the university system
itself and  university autonomy and the role of governing
council in administering and policy formulation for
universities.”

According to him, a directive from the office of the AGF cannot
override the law governing each university.

We won’t comply with Buhari’s directive –
ABU ASUU

The Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria chapter of ASUU also said it
would not comply with the Federal Government’s directive.

ASUU’s Chairman, Prof. Rabiu Nasir, told one of our
correspondents on the telephone  on Wednesday in Kaduna that
since the national body had rejected the IPPIS, the chapter had no
option but  to do the same.

Nasir said, “ABU ASUU will not comply with the President’s
directive on the IPPIS. ASUU as a body has rejected the IPPIS. So,
all the branches are following suit.”

The union chairman at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Dr Adeola
Egbetokun, said the leadership of the branch would not call any
congress over the matter.

He said,  “Our congress had already resolved to uphold and
sustain the decision of the national body that our members would
not be allowed to be railroaded into the scam of the IPPIS.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the IPPIS is a violation of the
university autonomy, an integral part of the agreement government
entered into with ASUU.”

He said ASUU would continue to challenge government on the issue
in the court of public opinion, adding that “ASUU members are loyal
and resolute on the matter of IPPIS. Our members are aware of the
demerits of the platform and ready to protect the sanctity of
university autonomy.”

To assume varsities won’t comply is
pre-emptive – FG

When contacted, the Deputy Director, Press in the Office of the
Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Henshaw Ogubike, said that
it would amount to “pre-emptive pessimism” to be assuming that the
university community would not obey the directive for the data
capturing exercise.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari  had, during the
2020 budget presentation at the National Assembly on October 8,
ordered the stoppage of payment of salaries of civil servants, who
failed to register for the IPPIS by the end of October.

The IPPIS scheme,  which was introduced in 2007,  is
one of the Federal Government’s  initiatives designed to
centralise payroll and payment systems, facilitate convenient staff
remuneration with minimal wastage, aid manpower training and
budgeting.

But ASUU had long opposed the system, saying it negated the
policy on university autonomy. It also met with the Senate
President, Ahmed Lawan, in a bid to persuade the Federal Government
to excempt universities from the payroll.

On October 2, 2019, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National
Planning, Zainab Ahmed, berated the union, saying no government
agency must oppose the presidential directive.

She had  said,  “The resistance to the IPPIS is
misplaced as far as I am concerned because there is no agency of
government that must resist it. It must be treated with utmost
importance. The universities and some medical institutions have
some peculiarities.”

The Federal Government, had through a circular dated October 29,
2019, by the acting Head of the Civil Service of the Federation,
Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, extended the deadline for enrolling in the
IPPIS to November 30.

But ASUU, on Tuesday said its members would not join the
IPPIS.  The ASUU National Vice-President, Prof Emmanuel
Osodeke, had said, “On the IPPIS, we have made our position known
to the government and they have said that they will get back to us.
So, we are expecting their reaction. Our position is that ASUU will
not join IPPIS the way it is.”

He said the union  would decide its next action should
the Federal Government decide to stop the salaries of its
members.