As another lecturers’ strike looms, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has alleged that 95 of its members across Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Federal University, Kashare, and University of Jos are yet to be paid between two and 13 months.
The Coordinator for Bauchi Zone which comprises the three states, Prof. Lawan Abubakar said this during a press conference at the ATBU Campus on Tuesday. He said that the Federal Government’s payment platform (IPPIS) has kept omitting the salary of their members.
Lawan said that “The inconsistencies observed in the application of the IPPIS in the payments of salaries, remittances of third-party deductions have continued in all the Federal Universities. Since the introduction of IPPIS in February 2020, our members have continued to be omitted from the payments of salary on a monthly basis.
“This is the situation across all the Federal Universities in the country. Every month when salary is paid, a different set of staff will have their names omitted from the payment for that particular month. As we speak now, about 61 lecturers from the University of Jos are being owed salary arrears of 2 to 13 months; it is the same situation in ATBU (16 members), Bauchi and Federal University of Kashere, Gombe (18members).
“This is deliberate and amounts to victimisation of ASUU members by IPPIS Office as a ploy to force them to enroll, thereby frustrating the implementation of (University Transparency Accountability Solutions (UTAS) as agreed before the strike was suspended in 2020.
“The questions that need answers here are: Are some individuals feeding fat on the high cost of maintenance and consultancy fees on IPPIS as against the freely developed and more efficient UTAS that has taken care of the University peculiarities, in line with extant Laws? Could this be the reason for the foot-dragging by FGN to deploy UTAS in the Universities?”
Lawan said that the National leadership of the Union has been engaging the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation to solve the problem of salary deduction and omissions of the salary of the members.
He lamented the fragility of the government payment platform —IPPIS, which he claimed has done more damage than good to lecturers who were forced into the system. He urged the government to adopt the varsity-designed platform —UTAS to end the problems of payment of salary and allowance.