The Ibadan zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has insinuated that the union will begin a nationwide strike if the federal government fails to remit the salaries of its members at the end of October, 2019.
The union has rejected the Integrated Payment Personnel Information System (IPPIS) allegedly being forced on its members by the federal government.
Addressing newsmen on Sunday at the University of Ibadan, the union’s Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Ade Adejumo, described the IPPIS as a new and strange regime, insisting on “no pay, no work” while rejecting it.
“These ominous signs have now made it expedient for ASUU, as a responsible union of intellectuals, to puncture the lies sold to the public by government, particularly the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, so that members of the public can better be informed about our position,” he said.
He added that “you will agree that these are very critical ingredients to the survival of any university system that is seeking continued relevance in the highly competitive universal academic world.
“Sequel to this fact, government, conceding that the university is peculiar and different from the civil service, ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government, agreed to the autonomy of universities in Nigeria and signed into law the Universities Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment Act) in 2003.
“For emphasis, therefore, we now present detailed perspectives of our union’s rejection of the IPPIS to discerning members of the public.”
According to Adejumo, IPPIS violated the provisions of the law and that ASUU was appalled that government was losing sight of the law on the power vested in the councils to dispense finances of the universities.
“We have painstakingly cited these laws to expose the mischief or ignorance of the Accountant General of the Federation in his reckless statement that by opposing IPPIS, our union endorses corruption,” he said.
“Ordinarily, we need not have bothered about the vituperations of the AGF because the stance of our union against corruption is in the public domain. However, the AGF needs to answer these questions: if indeed millions of naira have been recovered through the IPPIS, from where have the money been recovered, and who are the culprits that have been sanctioned for such infractions?”
