… Lament inconsistency in IPPIS payment system
By: Emmanuel Nlewedum
Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, and the Non-Academic Staff of Nigerian Universities, NASU, have accused the Federal Government of discriminating against university workers.
The university workers, while addressing a press conference under the aegis of Joint Action Committee, JAC, South South Zone at the end of a three day National Protest at the University of Port Harcourt on Thursday accused the Federal Government of causing disunity between the academic and non-academic staff of universities.
Speaking on behalf of the unions, National Vice President, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Comrade Cheta Ugochukwu Azuma said SSANU and NASU are not comfortable with the situation in Nigerian universities.
The unions have embarked on a nationwide protest to reject the sharing formula of the thirty billion naira given to the universities as Earned Allowances for all university workers by the Federal Government.
Azuma who described the sharing formula as a divisive arrangement geared towards causing disunity among the unions said things concerning the non-academic staff are not being taken seriously by the Federal Government.
He said “The Federal Government is not doing what is appropriate. The university system has four unions and for the university system to function well, all the unions and segments must be recognized and carried along.
“The government have shown irresponsibility and irrational behavior towards the welfare of staff of the university system. Worst still is the dichotomy they are trying to create, the kind of divide and rule system they are trying to create in the university system. We are saying no to that.
“On the 20th of October, 2020, the Joint Negotiating team of SSANU and NASU had a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, with the Federal Government which was midwifed by Ministers of Labour and Education, they came up with a seven points agreement and the Federal Government have relented in implementing them.
“They told us that the thirty billion being released was for Earned Allowances for all university workers but today we are shocked to hear of 75% for academic staff and 25% for Nonacademic staff.
“We had expected that FG would allow the various councils and university bursery units that knows what each staff (both academic and non-academic) earns to workout what is due to everyone, but with a situation whereby you stay there and come up with a sharing formula of 75% to ASUU and 25% to all the non-teaching staff (SSANU, NASU and NAAT) put together, we are saying no to such situation, that arrangement is totally unacceptable to us”.
He also regretted the inconsistency in the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS, lamenting that workers have been shortchanged severely.
“We have witnessed inconsistency in the IPPIS payment system where earned allowances of the various workers were unjustly removed, and we are pressing home that the IPPIS unit should do the needful and hence they fail to do what is appropriate, we have no other option than to reject it entirely”.
Furthermore, Azuma noted that the unions are also protesting the non-renegotiation of 2009, MOU, which according to him is long overdue, non-payment of gratuity to retirees of the unions and taking over of non-academic staff positions by academic staff in the universities across the country.
He said the unions would embark on industrial action if the government does not respond to their demands.
