The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed dissatisfaction with the Federal Government’s continued use of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) for paying lecturers’ salaries.
Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the National President of ASUU, stated in an interview that the government had not followed through on its promise to remove tertiary institutions from the IPPIS platform, noting that the salaries for February were still paid through IPPIS.
Despite the government’s announcement in December 2023 exempting tertiary institutions, including universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, from IPPIS, Osodeke revealed that the implementation had not taken place.
Initially introduced in 2006 to streamline payroll management for government ministries, departments, and agencies, IPPIS was later extended to universities and colleges. However, it faced strong opposition from workers, leading to prolonged strikes in 2020 and 2021 due to various irregularities associated with IPPIS.
Osodeke emphasized that none of ASUU’s demands had been met, despite the government’s announcement in September 2023 of a 35% salary increase for tertiary institution workers, which was to be backdated to January 2023. Additionally, the government pledged to pay four months’ salaries out of the seven and a half months withheld during the 2022 national strike.
Various other demands of ASUU, such as the payment of Earned Academic Allowance and the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, have resulted in recurrent strikes in government-owned universities.
Regarding the possibility of another strike to press their demands, Osodeke indicated that ASUU members would decide, highlighting that previous strikes, even for salary review, had not led to substantial actions from the government. He emphasized the urgency for the government to fulfill its agreements with ASUU.
Osodeke further mentioned that ASUU would communicate its decision through a forthcoming press release.
