I stand with federal government on this. There must be accountability in our universities.

pfadom:
Why will selfish ASUU subscribe to the IPPIS when most of their members work in one or more other universities or polytechnics as associate or part-time lecturers.

I know some of the fulltime staff of UI and OAU who also lecture at FUOYE, any of the state or private universities. This IPPIS would not allow duplication of names.

How do you think some selfish ASUU members would support this heinous act of selfishness and sabotage?

In your mind now, you have exposed one big secret that no one has heard of.

But, what they are doing is not illegal. They are not doing it in secrecy. Government is aware of it.

They are fully in line with their appointment framework. Some of the programmes need those experienced hands to get accreditation from government agency.

Also, some are on Sabbatical leave which they spend in another university as visiting lecturers. This goes on worldwide. It is the peculiarity of the profession, which the Accountant General himself acknowledged in this report, if you read it well.

The issue in contention is how to capture the payments of these LEGAL duties in the "new" electronic payment platforn being introduce by government. That is what they are talking about as you can see in the report.

People get paid when they work, ok? IPPIS is not meant to purnish people and take their legitimate income away but to weed out waste in the system, ok?

Another issue is the retirement age of a professor. It is one of the issues that ASUU fought for over decades in order to stabilize the Nigerian university system. That is one of the reasons the academics is still holding on despite the massive brain drain threatening to turn Nigeria into intellectual desert. The legitimate concern is why it is difficult for government to adapt these peculiarities in their payroll system.

Other issues are similarly recognized by government.

If the government already recognizes all these legitimate issues, why the unnecessary propaganda? If the aim is to curb waste and not for a different agenda against intellectual development, why can't government obey its own laws?

Roysnickz:
Which sensible comment? Are you not aware that those universities he mentioned - MIT, Harvard etc are private universities?

this is the most senseless comment - that is if you read the comment I quoted...

I support you on this Hon Minister. They must register. they are refusing because of obvious reason - fraudulent charges

Very true

pharmagba:
Our lecturers want to lecture in more than one university and be on the payroll of all of them but because of their BVN , the system will not allow for this.
They should understand that circumventing the system in any way is tantamount to corruption. The minstry of finance should not bend backwards to accommodate this.
No lecturer in a federal institution must lecture in another federal institution but rather in a state institution instead. This should be good enough for them
I think this lecturers collecting in more than one institution is the reason they have not been able to think outside the box or come out with inventions that can bring about development and growth in our nation.

[quote author=Cauhlins post=83441354]ASUU is gradually becoming an association of criminals. They want autonomy yet still clamour for government's financing.

Ólé... If they want total autonomy, they must be ready to source for their finances.[/quote
Your head they there I wonder o! You are shouting autonomy without independently sourcing for your own finance! ASUU is a product of lazy yoot!

Reference:
This is a very easy situation.... simply stop the funding. How can a sub-establishment decide how it is going to be run. If colleges request for payment autonomy that is tantamount to financial independence and the government should stop that illegality by withdrawing funding, simple.

I have said it countless times, college education is not compulsory anywhere in the world and in a country like Nigeria struggling with a run away population and limited resources, it simply cannot be free. Universities need to be completely autonomous.

I suggest government ptivatises them. Identify trusts or what we call co-operatives and transfer all assets to them to run including a viable 'pay-off', seed money to keep them running for a while, while they adjust to new realities.

Universities are in reality, business centres where all folks, all society, invest in education and research and reap skilled labour and solutions to everyday challenges. It is not primary school education for basic literacy.

If we treat them like America treats its Harvards, Princetons and MITs or Britain treats its Oxfords and Cambridges then we begon to get the same results and begin to attract serious investment for both human and capital development. We treat our colleges now like grade schools so they are.

They are not talking about free education now.

They are talking of how to include earned income due to lecturers in a government payroll system called IPPIS. This system is a centralized automated payroll platform running on parameters of income earned.

The lecturers have issues with it because their peculiarity has not been considered. For instance, some lecturers go to other schools to teach on Sabbatical, as external examiners, part-time lecturers and so on. They have to be paid. Their payment currently is captured on the host university payment system.

The new system will not capture their work because the host university's authority to pay would have been transferred/ceded to the automated IPPIS sytem.

Now, government is not denying these earned income, they fully acknowledge them and the rights of the lecturers to earn them. But they are saying that IPPIS is so inflexible that those income would have to be paid through some other means.

Why can't they adjust IPPIS? If what they want to do is eliminate waste why introduce another means outside IPPIS to pay earned allowances? Is that not creating another avenue for waste and confusion?

Additionally, by the law of the Nigerian government itself, professors' retirement age is 70 years. But on IPPIS, retirement is pegged at 60 years of age or 35 years in service as applicable to the core civil service of which lecturing is not part. The lecturers are asking government to recognize that too as it concerns them. They have offered to help with the necessary adaptation on the system.

Do you get it up to that point?

Now, are you saying Harvard and MIT and Princeton universities' lecturers don't get paid? Or are you saying the lecturers don't have input in the reforms in those universities?

University in reality are not business centres. If they were, you would have seen Harvard and MIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange or Oxford and Cambridge on London Stock Exchange.

Much of the funding of Harvard is from generous endowments from its very successful alumni pool. For a school established in 1636 it is no surprise that it will outperform Nigerian schools in fund raising.'

Universities of Oxford and Cambridge are public universities which are still subsidized by the UK government. And they have complete autonomy - from government political influence etcetera. Much of their funding come from research grants.

Using tuition fee as a weeding tool to control access to education because of socalled run away population is defeatist. Such a strategy is flawed and potend danger for a country whose only successful products apart from oil and gas are the skilled human capital.

Going by trend and years of migrantion pattern, it is safe to say that more than 60% Nigerian migrants are university educated which enables them to quickly assimilate into their host countries and start earning income. Their annual remittances back into country is one the financial pillars still preventing the country from total collapse when all else is failing fiscally.

Nigeria is not the only country with big youth population desiring to have university education. India is successfully turning that particular challenge into a big advantage for their country.

Brilliant exposition, brother....

porka:


They are not talking about free education now.

They are talking of how to include earned income due to lecturers in a government payroll system called IPPIS. This system is a centralized automated payroll platform running on parameters of income earned.

The lecturers have issues with it because their peculiarity has not been considered. For instance, some lecturers go to other schools to teach on Sabbatical, as external examiners, part-time lecturers and so on. They have to be paid. Their payment currently is captured on the host university payment system.

The new system will not capture their work because the host university's authority to pay would have been transferred/ceded to the automated IPPIS sytem.

Now, government is not denying these earned income, they fully acknowledge them and the rights of the lecturers to earn them. But they are saying that IPPIS is so inflexible that those income would have to be paid through some other means.

Why can't they adjust IPPIS? If what they want to do is eliminate waste why introduce another means outside IPPIS to pay earned allowances? Is that not creating another avenue for waste and confusion?

Additionally, by the law of the Nigerian government itself, professors' retirement age is 70 years. But on IPPIS, retirement is pegged at 60 years of age or 35 years in service as applicable to the core civil service of which lecturing is not part. The lecturers are asking government to recognize that too as it concerns them. They have offered to help with the necessary adaptation on the system.

Do you get it up to that point?

Now, are you saying Harvard and MIT and Princeton universities' lecturers don't get paid? Or are you saying the lecturers don't have input in the reforms in those universities?

University in reality are not business centres. If they were, you would have seen Harvard and MIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange or Oxford and Cambridge on London Stock Exchange.

Much of the funding of Harvard is from generous endowments from its very successful alumni pool. For a school established in 1636 it is no surprise that it will outperform Nigerian schools in fund raising.'

Universities of Oxford and Cambridge are public universities which are still subsidized by the UK government. And they have complete autonomy - from government political influence etcetera. Much of their funding come from research grants.

Using tuition fee as a weeding tool to control access to education because of socalled run away population is defeatist. Such a strategy is flawed and potend danger for a country whose only successful products apart from oil and gas are the skilled human capital.

Going by trend and years of migrantion pattern, it is safe to say that more than 60% Nigerian migrants are university educated which enables them to quickly assimilate into their host countries and start earning income. Their annual remittances back into country is one the financial pillars still preventing the country from total collapse when all else is failing fiscally.

Nigeria is not the only country with big youth population desiring to have university education. India is successfully turning that particular challenge into a big advantage for their country.

valentineuwakwe:
The Federal Government again on Thursday hit at the Academic Staff Union of Universities for opposing the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System of the Federal Government, saying no government agency must resist it.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning , Zainab Ahmed, who stated this at the budget defence secession organised by the Senate Committee on Finance in Abuja , described ASUU ’s opposition as misplaced .
ASUU has opposed a directive by President Muhammadu Buhari, who at the 2020 budget presentation in the National Assembly on October 8, ordered that all public sector workers to register for the IPPIS to save cost and fight corruption.
But the lecturers on Monday opposed the Federal Government, saying the IPPIS negated the law on university autonomy .
The Accountant- General of the Federation , Alhaji Ahmed Idris, countered ASUU, saying its position was an endorsement of corruption.
The IPPIS , which was introduced in 2007 , is aimed at centralising payroll and payment systems, facilitating convenient staff remuneration with minimal wastage as well as aiding manpower training and budgeting.
You can’ t be staff members of all varsities , minister tells lecturers
On Thursday, the Finance Minister, Ahmed, faulted ASUU , saying no government must resist the IPPIS .
She said , “ The resistance to the IPPIS is misplaced as far as I am concerned because there is no agency of government that must resist it. It must be treated with utmost importance. The universities and some medical institutions have some peculiarities .
“ For instance, a medical officer in the public service can consult in different hospitals, but he should still have one primary point of employment.
“ A lecturer , based on the approval given by the minister, is also allowed to lecture in more than one universities. That, however , does not mean that he should feature in all the institutions as a staff member.
“ At best, there would be special allowances that would be due to them for those extra-work. The allowances should , however , not be included in the payroll .
“ We have been discussing with them and we are arranging peculiar allowances for them too. This is to make sure that the extra- work they do , according to the limits that is allowed, is provided for in the payroll .
“ They have understood now that their concerns would be addressed and they have started working with us. As we speak , the Accountant General staff are on the field trying to capture the last batch of the staff into the IPPIS . ”
The Minister said the IPPIS had been extremely beneficial because the Federal Government had been able to save up to about N250 bn from the exercise .
She said , “ The savings would be more when we integrate the HI component of the IPPIS which is controlled by the Head of Service.
“ It is a record of staff . When a worker retires from the service , the system will automatically log him out .
“ At the moment, we await instructions before we log out retired workers . Some people have retired but they are still on the payroll . There are lots of cleaning up that we have to do . We have been working with the Head of Service to fast- track that integration.

source: https://punchng.com/ippis-controversy-fg-hits-ASUU-says-no-agency-must-oppose-payment-system/

what are they saying about the various pitfalls in the current ippis which ASUU members raised during a meeting with ippis

Our universities are seriously into corruption and I wonder why any Federal Govt employee should be worried about who his/her salary comes into his/her account. They like autonomy but never want to give account of how they manage allocations.

Cauhlins:
ASUU is gradually becoming an association of criminals. They want autonomy yet still clamour for government's financing.

Ólé... If they want total autonomy, they must be ready to source for their finances.

I wonder oooo, where as Na the same government they will still face for funding. So where do autonomy dey?

porka:


They are not talking about free education now.

They are talking of how to include earned income due to lecturers in a government payroll system called IPPIS. This system is a centralized automated payroll platform running on parameters of income earned.

The lecturers have issues with it because their peculiarity has not been considered. For instance, some lecturers go to other schools to teach on Sabbatical, as external examiners, part-time lecturers and so on. They have to be paid. Their payment currently is captured on the host university payment system.

The new system will not capture their work because the host university's authority to pay would have been transferred/ceded to the automated IPPIS sytem.

Now, government is not denying these earned income, they fully acknowledge them and the rights of the lecturers to earn them. But they are saying that IPPIS is so inflexible that those income would have to be paid through some other means.

Why can't they adjust IPPIS? If what they want to do is eliminate waste why introduce another means outside IPPIS to pay earned allowances? Is that not creating another avenue for waste and confusion?

Additionally, by the law of the Nigerian government itself, professors' retirement age is 70 years. But on IPPIS, retirement is pegged at 60 years of age or 35 years in service as applicable to the core civil service of which lecturing is not part. The lecturers are asking government to recognize that too as it concerns them. They have offered to help with the necessary adaptation on the system.

Do you get it up to that point?

Now, are you saying Harvard and MIT and Princeton universities' lecturers don't get paid? Or are you saying the lecturers don't have input in the reforms in those universities?

University in reality are not business centres. If they were, you would have seen Harvard and MIT listed on the New York Stock Exchange or Oxford and Cambridge on London Stock Exchange.

Much of the funding of Harvard is from generous endowments from its very successful alumni pool. For a school established in 1636 it is no surprise that it will outperform Nigerian schools in fund raising.'

Universities of Oxford and Cambridge are public universities which are still subsidized by the UK government. And they have complete autonomy - from government political influence etcetera. Much of their funding come from research grants.

Using tuition fee as a weeding tool to control access to education because of socalled run away population is defeatist. Such a strategy is flawed and potend danger for a country whose only successful products apart from oil and gas are the skilled human capital.

Going by trend and years of migrantion pattern, it is safe to say that more than 60% Nigerian migrants are university educated which enables them to quickly assimilate into their host countries and start earning income. Their annual remittances back into country is one the financial pillars still preventing the country from total collapse when all else is failing fiscally.

Nigeria is not the only country with big youth population desiring to have university education. India is successfully turning that particular challenge into a big advantage for their country.

Is there any peculiarity about university lecturers that cannot be fixed in the payroll. it boils down to addition of few tables and functions in the payroll app.
Let ASUU embrace this move. Don't forget the casual FG workers like security men/women, MIS/IT, and librarians whose salary are being partly 'eaten' by the admin of our autonomous universities.

Also the cases of lecturers maintaining multiple full-time jobs under one employer - Federal Government, is real and needs to be checked. Even business organisations sometimes do engage staff from one department or branch in another department and branch but what they do differently is how they compensate their staffs by capturing extra work/task reward in their payroll. They don't employ you in multiple department or branches like university lecturers are trying to force on the FG here. The solution will revolve around making the payroll system/softwares more robust to accommodate the peculiarities of university lecturers. It should capture their extra efforts and reward it accordingly but never should two federal unis maintain two different employment profile for a single head. It is wrong.
This calls into question our practice of bad record keeping. It also calls for a central regulatory system that ensures a single lecturer isn't joggling multiple full-time jobs between different employer(state or federal govt) and thereby shortchanging the employers.

sinkhole:


[b]WE STILL INSIST THAT IPPIS LACKS THE FLEXIBILITY TO ADDRESS THE PECULIARITIES IN THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

1. There is no clear and convincing evidence that IPPIS can capture renumeration of staff on sabbstical, external exerminers, external assessors, and Earned Academic Allowance. The IPPIS does not and cannot cater for the constant movement of staff in the cases of visiting, adjunt, and part-tme.

2. In practice, IPPIS cannot predict and address the promotion of academics especially Associate Professors and Professors, which is subject to external assessment.

3. IPPIS will constitute an impediment in the way of the ability of Universities to recruit staff for new programmes as well as replace same; newly employed staff cannot be paid their salaries until they are enrolled into IPPIS data base.

4. The IPPIS recognizes 60 years and 65 years as against 70 years retirement age of a Professor.

5. On the issues of lecturers on sabbatical leave, IPPIS recognizes, For a maximum period of one year only but applicable to every
Seven years, as against five years.

6. The Law establishing each University is an Act of the National Assembly; hence, it cannot be upturned by an Executive action or operations of the Office of the Accountant General of the federation.

The office of AGF should note that our members are not answerable to his office but to their respective Governing Councils and that no University in the world operates IPPIS related system. Consequently, AGF should as a matter of urgency seek to uncover the Massive corruption in his office since the introduction of IPPIS.

In conclusion, the Abuja zone of ASUU wishes to reaffirm its objection to the idea of IPPIS since it undermines university Autonomy. And, since IPPIS has no place in the Act, it is illegal and unconstitutional.

[/b]

Prof. Theophilus Lagi
Zonal Coordinator Abuja.

Virtually all the issues raised here are simple thing that can be corrected in few weeks at most. Let ASUU embrace IPPIS and let FG cut wastages with which it can help meet ASUU's financial demands.