Why we rejected IPPIS for UTAS, by university teachers

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has confirmed rejecting the Federal Government’s payment platform, the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), while insisting on University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as its alternative.

IPPIS is a platform the Federal Government uses to pay about 789,000 of its workers in various sectors of the economy. ASUU members are also currently on the platform.

The union also rejected government’s Integrated Financial Management and Information System (GIFMIS), the alternative platform designed for university lecturers to transit to, with effect from November.

ASUU National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, in an interview, said the union’s stance is in line with the autonomy of tertiary institutions. He said the union rejected IPPIS because its implementation not only eroded autonomy of universities, but meddled with its internal affairs and violated Section 24(A) of Universities Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Act, 2003.

Osodeke noted that UTAS, its alternative payment system, conforms with the statutory provision that university finances should be managed by its governing council.

“Every year, the governing council of each institution directs the Vice-Chancellor to defend its budget at the National Assembly. When the budget is approved, including salary, remuneration, and overhead, among others, it will go to the President for assent and it becomes law.” Osodeke maintained that the funds should be released to the councils to pay staff members.

“That is the autonomy of the university we are talking about, as stipulated by the law,” he said. Osodeke also faulted recent guidelines by the Federal Government detailing the process for the formal exit of Federal Tertiary Institutions (FTIs) from IPPIS.

In a circular issued on Oct. 8, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Dr Oluwatoyin Madein, said the payroll for FTIs in the month of October will still be processed on the IPPIS platform.

She, however, noted that effective from November, the payrolls will be processed by the institutions themselves and checked by the IPPIS department in the office of the AGF, but clarified that the payment will be made through the GIFMIS platform.