Educational Crisis between President Buhari and Chris Ngige
The Joint Action Committee JAC, of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities NASU, and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities SSANU, have opted to present a new payment system to the Federal Government to replace the current system used to pay their salaries. The Federal Government of Nigeria under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had implemented a system called the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System IPPIS, to pay the salaries of Federal civil servants.
The implementation of the system generated a lot of crisis between several civil servants unions and the government. One of the most popular crisis the implemention of IPPIS created is the fight between the Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU. According to ASUU, the IPPIS is not capable of capturing the peculiarities in the salaries and allowances of staff in the academic sector.
After several demands that the Federal Government should not implement the system for salary payment in the universities, the government did not heed their calls. ASUU however, went ahead to develop an alternative system called University Transparency and Accountability Solution UTAS. According to ASUU, the IPPIS is anti-university but the Federal Government is not willing to accept the alternative provided by ASUU. According to the Federal Government, UTAS does not meet the required standards and failed some integrity tests.
So many back and forth between ASUU and FG have been witnessed as regards the non-acceptance of IPPIS by the academic union. It is also among the reasons cited by ASUU for going a seven months strike which is expected to end by August 2022.Amid all the crisis between ASUU and the Federal Government, some other university unions including the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities NASU, and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities SSANU, have also rejected IPPIS and similarly proposed an alternative.
The platform, known as the Universities Peculiar Personnel Payroll System UPPPS was presented by the Joint Committee of the unions to the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu at the Ministries Conference Centre in Abuja. While presenting the platform to Adamu, SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim, said it serves as an alternative to the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System IPPIS through which all personnel in the university system will be paid.
He noted that IPPIS was full of inconsistencies and should be replaced by the Federal Government. President of SSANU Muhammed Ibrahim, while explaining some of their reasons to PUNCH NEWSPAPERS, he said the university is not like the regular public or civil service. These are the reasons why we decided to assist the government by coming up with a solution that would take care of the universities’ peculiarities because the university is not like the regular public or civil service.
Our retirement age is 65; we also have sabbatical leave, where our members can go to other universities, share experiences and gain more knowledge while they will be receiving salaries in their mother stations as well as the new places,” he added.
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