The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has reacted to the federal government’s directive to remove universities and other tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System, IPPIS, payment platform.
The President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the development would bring universities back on track if what the FEC approved was correct.
Sunrise reported that the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, announced the exemption of universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and other tertiary institutions from the IPPIS payment platform.
The decision was taken during Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting.
Osodeke, who spoke to Daily Trust on Wednesday following the removal of tertiary institutions from the IPPIS payment platform, commended the administration for reversing the policy.
“If that is correct, it is a good step in the right direction. We commend the administration for that. That’s what we’re talking about. If that’s correct, we are now coming up as universities gradually.
“This was one of the major reasons we were on strike, which was not attended to, for which our salaries were held,” the ASUU president said.
Osodeke lamented that the universities had lost their glory due to the singular act of putting them on the IPPIS payment platform.
He further called on President Bola Tinubu to also address the issue of punishment meted out to its members while calling for the right things to be done.
“We are also saying that while correcting those issues, the government should also correct the issue of our members who were punished for asking for the correct things. That is the next step to talk about.
“On this one, this is a good development. We commend the government for listening to our concerns after three years.
“Although that’s not the only issue, there are a lot of issues, but if the government has done this, they should also do other things so that we can have a flawless system where there will be no strike,” he added.