How N14, 000 per FG worker wreaks havoc on IPPIS platform

•PPPRA, PTI, others shut over emoluments

The collection of N14, 000 per Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS)-compliant Federal Government worker could be main driver of the confusion in the payment system in the universities, oil and gas sector and other agencies.

With no clear information on why the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) wants to migrate workers from the more efficient Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) to the IPPIS, most workers and their unions have remained perplexed.

The insistence by operators of the new payroll to migrate education and oil workers is already causing disquiet in the system. For instance, offices of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NNRA) and Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) have been shut for two weeks by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) over withholding of its members’ salaries.

A PENGASSAN trustee told The Guardian yesterday in Abuja that the N14,000 migration fee per worker was an incentive the consultants managing the IPPIS were not willing to forfeit.

Curiously, both IPPIS and GIFMIS are under the direct supervision of the Accountant General of the Federation. He said: “We told government that the peculiarities of the oil and gas sector make it difficult for IPPIS to work well. In case of PPPRA, the process to exit the IPPIS is presently on, but that has also led to the non-payment of three months salaries of workers. That is why the premises of PPPRA, NNRA and PTI have been under lock and key for more than one week now. The payment of N14, 000 per head is the incentive that is causing confusion in the system. The system is corrupt. The GIMFIS has been working and without confusion. The IPPIS is run by private consultants who are interested in the money.

Why are the military not on IPPIS?”
Also in a letter with reference number NLC/NS/A.42 addressed to the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) called on the Federal Government to quickly resolve the problems posed by the IPPIS implementation to the system.

NLC President, Ayuba Wabba noted that the new payroll had been unable to capture all staff, especially those on study leave outside the country, adding that others had not received their emoluments since February 2020.

IN the meantime, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, at the resumed negotiation between government and members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Abuja yesterday, said the Muhammadu Buhari administration was desperate to end the industrial action for students to return to classes and depopulate the #EndSars campaign currently rocking most states of the federation.

There were indications that the absence of Ministers of Finance and Education might have impacted the meeting negatively. Indeed, while the Accountant General of the Federation was present, a director represented the ministry of education.