The Nigerian Government has debunked the report that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has been exempted from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, platform.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige told Sunday Vanguard that government was quoted out of context on the matter, saying, there was no meeting it was agreed that ASUU would be exempted from the IPPIS payment platform.
The Minister explained that at the meeting with the leadership of the university teachers, the government agreed that ASUU members that were yet to enrol on IPPIS will be paid through the platform with which they have paid the President Muhammadu Buhari’s compassionate COVID-19 payment in the months of February and June.
He further said that the platform was a hybrid platform between IPPIS and the Government Integrated Financial Management and Information System, GIFMIS platform which is for the transition period, adding that no government payment will be done without IPPIS knowing.
He said that IPPIS and GIFMIS would be used in paying the university teachers for the transition period, while the University Transparency and Accountability Solution, UTAS continues to undergo all the integrity test and cybersecurity test for confirmation for use.
Reacting to the purported exemption given to ASUU on IPPIS, the Minister said, “The situation is that you need to get our communique to ASUU, I think it is better because a lot of people are quoting us out of context saying that we abandoned the IPPIS and that we said they should not be on IPPIS, it is not true.
“What we said in the meeting and what we agreed was that in the interim for the transition period that UTAS is being tested by NITDA and the Office of National Security Adviser for cybersecurity.
(Vanguard)
