The Senator representing Rivers East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Ohna Andrew Uchendu, OON, has moved a motion seeking for the inclusion of 108 civil servants into the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Payment Information System (IPPIS), after they were excluded for no just cause.

Presenting the motion on the floor of the Red Chamber, Senator Uchendu stated that he is alarmed, worried and unhappy that 108 civil servants who were recruited according to the Federal Civil Service rules since 2014, have still not been captured under the IPPIS, and as such could not receive salaries, even when their colleagues have been getting monthly remunerations ever since.

He said: "I am alarmed that out of 167 young Nigerians that were recruited by the Federal Civil Service Commision and deployed to several ministries including the Federal Ministry of Health in 2014, after being verified and authenticated for capturing by the Commision, only about 39 of them were extracted from the list and captured by the IPPIS under the cover of President Awardees and Physically Challenged.

"I am worried that the remainder of the 108 civil servants have been working since then without any salaries because they have not been captured under the IPPIS, even when their colleagues who were recruited along with them in 2014, and deployed to the Ministries of Agriculture, Interior and Women Affairs, respectively, have been captured and have since been receiving their salaries.

"I am unhappy that even when a letter of intervention dated 18th of December 2017, from the Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, was written to the Chairman, Federal Civil Service Commission, the 108 civil servants have still not been captured," Senator Uchendu lamented.

Furthermore, Senator Uchendu, who is the Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Public Procurement, prayed the Senate to direct the Senate Committee on Establishment to urgently ascertain why 108 out of the 167 officers recruited and deployed to the Federal Ministry of Health, were not captured by IPPIS and their entitlements paid accordingly.

The motion received an overwhelming support from all the senators present at plenary, leading to the adoption of the prayer raised by the Rivers East senator. The Senate in a unanimous resolution directed its Committee on Establishment to investigate why the 108 civil servants in question were not captured under the IPPIS platform and report back in two weeks time for further action on the matter.

Solomon Okocha
Media Aide to Senator Andrew Uchendu
Rivers East Senatorial District

January 30, 2018