Why we disagree with Federal Government on IPPIS, by Sokoto ASUU

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Sokoto Zone, has said that no university system in the world operates under Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and that the union does not intend to start it.

Chairman of Sokoto ASUU, Jamilu Shehu, made this known during a press conference over the weekend at Umaru Musa Yar’Adua University (UMYU), Katsina State.

IPPIS, he said, does not accommodate the peculiarities of the nation’s tertiary institutions; hence it is not ready to join the “counter-productive” system.

The union also warned that it would sanction its members who had gone ahead to enrol in the system, despite instructions from the national body.

Institutions in the zone include UMYU; Usman Danfodio University (UDU), Sokoto; Sokoto State University (SSU); Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aliero (KSUSTA); and Federal University, Dutsinma in Katsina.

Shehu said adopting IPPIS in Nigerian universities would render governing councils redundant, with smaller institutions that depend on bigger ones for teaching staff becoming greatly affected.

He said rather than force universities to embrace the system, the Federal Government should work at addressing the deficiency and decay in the university system.

The union also called on the government to reconstruct governing councils that had served their terms.

In addition, ASUU stressed the need for the appointment of substantive vice chancellors in the universities where VCs operate in an acting capacity.

It cited Federal University, Dutsinma, which had had three actings VCs in the last two years.

“It is inexplicable that a university could claim to have produced three acting vice chancellors within two years, with each drawing the full entitlements of a substantive vice chancellor with five-year tenure after serving for just six months. Nothing describes this better than corruption,” the union added.