ASUU members shun payroll – TheNigerialawyer

Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) did
not enrol yesterday into the controversial Integrated Payroll and
Personnel Information System (IPPIS), TheNation report

The Federal Government had directed that workers at its
universities and colleges of education across the country enrol
into the new payroll.

Our correspondents, who were at Federal universities to monitor
compliance with the directive, report that the union members
remained recalcitrant.

At the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the Federal College of
Education (Technical) both in Akoka, Lagos, the enrolment did not
take off.

A team from the Office of the Accountant General of the
Federation (OAGF) expected to supervise the enrolment did not show
up.

Our correspondent saw workers of both institutions, especially
non-academic staff in UNILAG, preparing documents required for the
exercise.

The university management also made a timetable on how each
faculty and directorate would do the exercise.

According to the timetable, the Faculty of Arts, the Library
Section and the Distance Learning Institute were to enrol
yesterday.

But the UNILAG chapter of ASUU directed its members to stay away
from the exercise.

The union’s Chairman Dr. Dele Ashiru said ASUU would not be part
of the exercise.

The Chairman of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian
Universities (SSANU) at UNILAG, Sowunmi Olusola, said the union’s
members would be actively involved and that modalities had been
worked out to fine-tune the irregularities in the government’s
payroll system.

At FCET, Akoka, the Director of Information, Mrs Babalola, said
the management was expecting the IPPIS team.

She said: “We are to start today but we have not seen
anybody.”

It was also gathered that workers of Yaba College of Technology
had been enrolled some weeks ago.

At the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA), a circular by the
Registrar, Malam Y. I. directed the workers to enrol in the payment
system.

It reads: “Please, be informed that the Office of the
Accountant-General is scheduled to commence the enrolment of staff
of Federal universities and colleges of education in Nigeria into
IPPIS on Monday, November 25, 2019, to Saturday, December 7,
2019.

“Staff members are required to provide letter of first
employment, letter of last promotion, evidence of transfer of
service, staff identity card, birth certificate/declaration of age,
educational qualifications, copy of bank statement (six months),
BVN printout, pension fund administrator print out and evidence of
change of name.

“While details of the arrangement will be communicated to you
when further information is received from the office of the
Accountant-General, staff are enjoined to cooperate to ensure a
seamless exercise.”

But, as directed by ASUU’s national body, its members at
UNIABUJA boycotted the enrolment.

ASUU members at the Federal University Lafia (FUL), Nasarawa
State, insisted they would not participate in the IPPIS
enrolment.

Its Chairman Adam Al-Amin Abdullahi said there was no going back
on the union’s position on the matter.

University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) and its Enugu campuses did
not start the IPPIS enrolment yesterday.

The situation was calm yesterday at the University of Ibadan
(UI), University of Osun (UNIOSUN), Ladoke Akintola University of
Technology (LAUTECH) and University of Ilorin (UNILORIN).

The Federal Government team from the OAGF on the IPPIS did not
show up.

The Zonal Coordinator, ASUU Ibadan, Dr. Ade Adejumo, told The
Nation that the union, in anticipation of the government plan, set
up monitoring teams in all the campuses to ensure that members do
not join the IPPIS plan.

At UI, ASUU set up a monitoring team to ensure that none of its
members enlist on the new payroll.

Asked if there was a team from the OAGF to enlist members, Dr.
Adejumo said: “We have not seen any Federal Government team on the
enrolment of IPPIS and we have been monitoring our campuses. We
have seen any of them.”

In a resolution read by the Secretary of the union, Professor
Peter Olapegba, the congress resolved to stop work in the event of
stoppage of salary of academic workers.

ASUU at the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) said its members
would not enrol into the new platform.

Its Chairman Prof. Dani Mamman said the decision against the
IPPIS had not shifted.

He told The Nation on phone in Maiduguri, the Borno State
capital, that the union’s branch, through a congress meeting,
resolved not to shift ground except the alternate IPPIS template
submitted by ASUU to Senate President Ahmad Lawan was
implemented.

“After heated debate and deliberations, we have resolved not
join the IPPIS until all the peculiarities of our demands are
captured,” he said.

At the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, the Anambra
State capital, ASUU rejected the new payroll system.

Its Chairman Stephen Ufoaru addressed reporters after its
congress at the university auditorium.

“We as a union will not be part of the exercise. We’ve engaged
the Federal Government in several fora on the issue. We’ve
developed our own alternative platform, which we believe will
address the peculiarities of the university workers,” he said.

The enrolment did not take place at the Federal University of
Technology (FUT), Minna, Niger State.

The union insisted that its members would not come out for the
exercise.

ASUU members at the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta
(FUNAAB) in Ogun State did not participate in the IPPIS scheme.

Its Chairman, Dr. Adebayo Oni, told The Nation that his members
would not enrol into the platform.

“ASUU-UNAAB is not participating in IPPIS enrolment,” Oni
said.

Federal Government officials for the IPPIS scheme were not seen
on the campus.

ASUU Chairman at the Federal University Dutsinma (FUDMA), Yahaya
Ahmed Mohammed, said the union may go on strike, if the Federal
Government failed to accept the alternative template the union
proposed to resolve the IPPIS matter.

He said: “The national leadership of the union is working hard
to come up with an alternative template policy on the IPPIS regime
and will soon make presentations to the Federal Government.”

There was no presence of AGF personnel on the campus
yesterday.

Also, at the Federal College of Education (FCE), Katsina, the
personnel to conduct the IPPIS enrolment from the OAGF did not show
up. Spokesman for the college, Mr Segun Onalapo, told The Nation,
on behalf of the Registrar, that the school was eagerly waiting to
enrol into the scheme, though the officials to conduct it did not
show up.

The school’s Senior Staff Union of Colleges of Education
(SSUCOE) Chairman Aminu Abdullahi Dutsinma said the union had
resolved to enrol into the IPPIS.

ASUU members at the Bayero University Kano (BUK) have not
embraced the new platform.

ASUU Chairman at the university, Dr. Ibrahim Barde, stressed
that the chapter would not comply with government’s directive to
enrol into the IPPIS.

He said: “Any lecturer that complied with such directive will be
sanctioned appropriately. As such, BUK has not enrolled into
it.”