By Bassey Anthony, Uyo
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – The Calabar zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) of imposing the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System(IPPIS) on universities in the country.
The Coordinator ASUU Calabar Zone, Dr. Aniekan Brown, said in a press conference in Uyo on Sunday that the OAGF has introduced concepts totally alien to laws peculiar to the daily running of universities in the country.
He wondered why the Office of the Accountant General of the Federal was so bent at forcing the university system into IPPIS, while some other federal institutions are not forced into it.
“The attempt by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation [OAGF] to foist IPPIS on federal universities is a flagrant negation and violation of the laws of the land. University autonomy is the bedrock of freedom in scholarship and research, and academics guard it jealously.
”Apart from the danger that IPPIS portends to the university system, ASUU is poised not to aid the OAGF to violate the laws of the land. ASUU has no doubt that law-abiding Nigerians will support and stand by ASUU in the struggle.
“Again, the university system is peculiar in its modus operandi. The mode of employment, retirement age[s], sabbatical leave, adjunct, part-time, contract engagement, etc. are concepts that are unique to the university and obviously incompatible to IPPIS.
”The OAGF has been economical with the whole truth about addressing these peculiarities. In spite of obvious short-comings to this system of payment, the OAGF is bent on plunging the university system into avoidable confusion. We therefore demand that, the OAGF retrace its steps and heed to superior reasoning.
“Dear compatriot, may we inform you that, the likes of NNPC, FIRS, NJC, CBN, Nigerian Security and Minting Press, National Assembly Service Commission, etc have not been forced into the IPPIS.
”This speaks volumes of the said ‘fight against corruption’. The question is why universities whose condition of service and peculiarities are incongruous with the said IPPIS forced into the scheme?”
“ASUU Calabar Zone, frowned at the allegation of corruption leveled against it for kicking against the IPPIS, stressing that, “For the avoidance of doubt, there is no worse case of corruption than breaking or circumventing the law. As torch-bearers of Nigeria’s intellectual conscience, ASUU is committed to compelling the Federal government to be law-abiding”.
Culled from The Nation
