Varsities Face Strike As Govt Pays Lecturers On IPPIS

ONLY varsity teachers captured on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) will get alert for their January salary, the Federal Government said on Thursday.

The IPPIS has been a subject of controversy between teachers’ umbrella body – Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) – and the Federal Government.

The payment of tertiary institutions’ lecturers will begin today, it was learnt yesterday.

The Nation confirmed that the January salary of tertiary institutions’ lecturers, usually paid in bulk, will only be paid to those on the payroll system.

The government had warned that any worker not captured under the IPPIS would not be paid the January salary, based on the advice from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF) to withhold the salaries of erring employees.

The ASUU leadership believed the payroll system was unnecessary for its members, many of whom refused to be registered.

A source in the OAGF told The Nation said: “We have concluded arrangements to pay workers their January salary but lecturers not captured under IPPIS will not be paid.”

The official also confirmed what Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha said last week that some lecturers collected salaries from multiple sources.

An internal memorandum was sent to the Minister of Finance, requesting that since the OAGF had completed its assignment on IPPIS, the salaries of those not captured on the platform should not be paid, irrespective of who they are and where they work.

Reacting to the move, ASUU President Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, said the union members will invoke “no pay no work” resolution reached at its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Minna, Niger State, last year.

He said: “Once the government begins payment of January salaries of lecturers in the universities and our members are not paid then we will invoke the no pay no work resolution.

“We already have that resolution and it will take effect once our members are not paid their January salary. That is our position.”