The crisis between the federal government and the Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) over the Integrated Payroll and
Personnel Information System (IPPIS) has taken another dimension as
the union Thursday alleged that the federal government is planning
to pay contractors handling the scheme N2 billion if all
non-teaching and academic staff are fully enrolled.
ASUU Chairman, University of Ibadan chapter, Prof. Deji Omole,
in a statement made available to THISDAY, described the
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari as a government of
“contractoracy” where public monies are given out to friends of
government for the benefit of associates.
He said the union gathered that the IPPIS contractor is paid
N16,000 per person that enrolled by a government claiming to be
fighting corruption, adding that according to the National
Universities Commission (NUC) data, the 40 federal universities
have a total of 119,202 staff (35,963 academic staff and 83,239
non-teaching staff).
Omole disclosed that assuming ASUU members enrolled fully, the
director of IPPIS who claimed it has enrolled 39,000 academic staff
must be fraudulent or confused and should explain where he got his
figures from.
He maintained that ASUU members have substantially complied with
the directive not to enroll and this has become a headache to the
contractor who wants to enroll more people to get more money.
The professor of Forest Engineering noted that having failed to
record success on ASUU members, the IPPIS team are even ready to go
into houses to beg academic staff to enroll.
While stating that the union suspects that the contractors will
work with the office of the Accountant General of the Federation to
add fictitious names on the platform to siphon Nigeria’s
commonwealth, he asked the government to test the alternative
template the union has developed which captures the peculiarities
of the university system without breaking the law and the ASUU/FGN
agreements.
According to him, “What is going on is a grand plan to further
swindle the commonwealth of Nigerians by the office of Accountant
General and their contractors whom we heard are being paid 16,000
naira per person enrolled. So the more you register the more money
you get. And that is why the AGF says December is the final day for
enrollment cannot stop the exercise. They want to mop the money in
the treasury before the end of the year in the name of IPPIS
contracting. ASUU members don’t pay salaries of workers.
“Our members are not in audit, account or Bursary units of
universities. Our calling is different from others in the
university system. We are intellectuals. We have developed what
government contracted out with millions from our experts. The
government and their associates run contractocracy government. They
must find ways to empower party men, family members and friends at
the expense of the nation.”