Federal Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education have been taken off from the Integrated Personnel Payment System (IPPIS).
The approval for the exemption was given by the Federal Executive Council at its meeting on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents alongside other ministers on the outcome of the FEC meeting, and said this takes immediate effect.
According to him, FEC also observed that Vice Chancellors of Universities didn’t need to abandon their work to come to Abuja to process the salaries of their personnel.
The Federal Government introduced the IPPIS in 2006 as one of its reform initiatives for the effective storage of personnel records, saying the move would improve transparency and accountability.
The IPPIS initiative was also be expanded to include all ministries, departments and agencies that draw personnel costs from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) would reject the reform and would have a continual tussle with the Federal Government over the continuous use of IPPIS for the payment of university lecturers’ entitlements.
ASUU’s Vice President, Chris Piwuna, a strong proponent for the rejection of IPPIS would cite the autonomy of universities as a key factor, accusing the Office of the Head of Service of meddling in the affairs of the universities.
