The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has issued a warning of a nationwide strike if the Federal government continues to withhold the January salaries of lecturers who have not enrolled in the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
According to a letter from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, dated Tuesday, January 21st and signed by the Director of IPPIS, Olufehinti Olusegun, funds for the payment of January salaries of academic staff of universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education who are yet to enroll on the IPPIS platform should not be released by the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning. Read the initial report here.
ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, criticized the government’s decision, stating that if it is not reviewed, lecturers in the university system will have no choice but to go on strike. Ogunyemi emphasized that the union and the Federal government are still in discussions over the IPPIS policy, and withholding salaries during the ongoing dialogue is inappropriate.
“We didn’t take part in that decision. What we were expecting them to do was to allow the ongoing discussion to run its full course. Now that we are reading about this in the media, it’s as if some elements in government are trying to sabotage the process. We came out of the meeting with Mr. President believing that they will give us room to explain how the UTAS will better address our peculiarities and autonomy than IPPIS. However, they have not allowed that to happen. We suspect it’s due to the activities of some individuals or groups that are trying to sabotage the process.
“If they push us to the point of taking our final decision about it, we too will tell them ‘no pay, no work’ because we have a resolution that is on ground already. The resolution we took long time ago, which we reactivated at our meeting in Minna last month. So, whichever way they want to go, ASUU will rise to the challenge.” he said in a chat with The New Telegraph
Responding to the question of whether the union would issue an ultimatum to the government to reverse its decision, Ogunyemi stated: “I have worked for one month, and somebody is saying you are not paying me for that month, do I need to give you an ultimatum to tell you that I can no longer work until you pay me?”