ASUU Clashes with Federal Government Over Removal from IPPIS

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has disagreed with the Federal Government over reports of the union’s removal from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS). On Monday, an online source reported that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) had confirmed the IPPIS deactivation for federal tertiary institutions. Bawa Mokwa, the Director of Press and Public Relations at the OAGF, reportedly stated that “the shutdown of the IPPIS platform for FTIs was a natural step following the Federal Government’s directive to exclude these institutions from the system.”

In response, ASUU National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, clarified that the situation was misrepresented. He emphasized that universities are still required to send their salary information to IPPIS for verification and screening. “As a union, we cannot accept this. The statement implies that institutions will still submit salary data to IPPIS for verification. This process, in our view, complicates things and allows for potential manipulation,” Osodeke said. He pointed out that over 300 institutions would be affected and argued that universities should manage their payrolls independently once budgets are approved.

ASUU has long argued that the IPPIS system does not accommodate certain allowances and fails to protect the interests of university lecturers, such as promotion arrears and retirement age, which for professors is set at 70. The union insists that imposing IPPIS on universities violates the University Autonomy Act. As an alternative, ASUU developed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS), but it was not adopted by the government.

Other university unions, like the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, stated that they were unaware of any recent changes involving IPPIS. Osodeke also mentioned that ASUU is scheduled to meet with the government’s renegotiation team. “We will decide on our next steps, including the possibility of a strike, after the meeting. We are hoping for a positive outcome, as this will be the first major negotiation session since initial guidelines for the renegotiation of our 2009 agreement were set,” he noted.