President Muhammadu Buhari announced that only Federal workers who have been captured by the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) platform will continue to receive salaries.
The President made this known, while presenting the proposed fiscal year 2021 budget estimated at N13.08 trillion to the joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja on Thursday.
He revealed that the decision not to pay Federal workers that were not captured on the IPPIS was to cut down personal cost and to check fraud including payment of salaries to non-existent personnel as well unauthorised allowances.
The President in his statement said, ‘Personal cost is still out largest single item of expenditure…’
‘To check the incidence of payments to non-existence personnel and unauthorized allowances, only Federal staff that have been captured on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) platform will receive salaries.’
The President added that, the Ministry of Education’s capital allocation had been increased by 65 per cent to improve the education of Nigerian children.
He affirmed also, that, funds had been made available for the provision of scholarship to Nigerian students at home and abroad.
He said, ‘We have provided funds for the upgrade of security and other infrastructure facilities in our Unity Colleges nationwide.’
‘To improve access to education, we have made provision for the establishment of five new Federal Science and Technical Colleges.’
‘We have also provided for the payment of allowances to 5,000 teachers under the Federal Teachers Scheme.’
However, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), currently on strike, has maintained not to accept the IPPIS platform, as demanded by the government.
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The Union claimed that, the IPPIS violates university autonomy, which brought about the development and the proposition of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) by varsity lecturers as an alternative salary platform.
Biodun Ogunyemi, ASUU’s National President, said that the union’s ongoing strike would continue in spite of the government’s decision to reopen schools closed down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said ‘We started our industrial action before the outbreak of coronavirus disease in the country.’
‘All the issues we raised are yet to be addressed. The government is free to open its schools, just like our members are also entitled to their dues.’
‘As we speak, our members are being owed between three to six months of salaries. The government’s so-called fund saving platform, the Integrated Personnel, and Payroll Information System is a colossal failure.’
‘Apart from that, the government is yet to take any step to revitalise the education sector among others.’
Adenike Omosanya
Photo Credit: BusinessDayNG