ASUU disagree with Government Plan to include university workers in the IPPIS

ASUU in Owerri on Monday rejected the federal government's plan to include university workers in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

The union said it had offered the opportunity to develop an alternative to IPPIS.


Comrade Uzo Onyebinama, the union's zone coordinator in the Owerri region, said on Monday at a press conference at Imer State University (IMSU) in Owerri.

Nigeria News Agency (NAN) announced that the press conference was organized at the request of the presidents of five unions of ASUU of Chukwuemeka University Odimegwu Ojukwu in Igboaram and the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) .

The others are IMSU, Owerri, Nnamdi Asikiwe University, Awka and the University of Agriculture Michael Okpara, Umudike.


The press conference was convened to draw attention to topical issues that could lead to a violation of industrial harmony in universities and paralyze academic and research activities.

According to Onyebinama, IPPIS violates the autonomy of universities and the FGN / ASUU agreement and does not respond to the peculiarity inherent in the nature and structure of universities.

"In concrete terms, IPPIS violates and erodes the autonomy of universities inherent in the provisions of Section 2AA of the Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendments) Act 2003," he said.


The ASUU Zone Coordinator stated that university activities (teaching, research and community service) in universities involved specific steps with deadlines.

"Universities are structured so as to be independent and free from bureaucracy in the public service.

"As a result, the academic institution is not only flexible and dynamic, but also pragmatic with the main objectives of responding quickly to critical demands. IPPIS denies it.



"The union considers the statement of the general accountant of the federation (OAGF) that the ASUU's position against IPPIS is an acknowledgment of corruption as inexpensive blackmail.

"ASUU can not be blackmailed to evade its sacred responsibility to defend the autonomy of universities.

"ASUU's zero tolerance of corruption (individual and institutional) is widely applauded and the union has offered the opportunity to develop an alternative to IPPIS," he said.



Onyebinama said the union has long called for the establishment of statutory panels to visit federal universities, adding that they constitute a platform for investigating the conduct of the university's affairs.

He said that the fact that the federal government did not investigate university affairs through visitor group instruments was the real support for corruption.

In the 2009 FGN / ASUU agreement, he said the renegotiation attempt that should have been renegotiated in 2012 failed because of what he called the top hand of a government-trained team.



He asserted that the team acted from a script deliberately designed to thwart the renegotiation exercise.

"For 10 years, wages and staffing have remained constant, despite double-digit inflation and the devaluation of the naira.

"Therefore, we take this opportunity and the media to call well-intentioned Nigerians to engage in the GF to end mandatory university registration at IPPIS.



"This should also ensure that the renegotiation of the 2009 FGN / ASUU agreement is completed without further delay. A point in time clearly records nine.

"Our universities certainly need a break from the relentless industrial crisis provoked by the insensitivity of the government," he said.