Federal government on Wednesday said the 7.5% Value Added Tax, VAT, will not be applied to contracts awarded before the February 2020, affective date for the take off of the new VAT policy.
This clarification was part of the outcome of the outcome of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari
This is just as government also declared the current warning strikes embarked upon by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU, over disagreements with the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System IPPIS, as illegal
Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, while briefing after the FEC meeting, berated ASUU for embarking on the strike after it agreed to work with federal government to check corruption and leakages in salary payments
Ngige said that going by the International Labour Organization, ILO, Convention, ASUU was supposed to give notice to the government before embarking on strike.
“They didn’t give us the mandatory notice before they started the strike, so this strike is illegal. No employee is permitted to dictate to the employer, it is in the ILO Convention,” Ngige said.
He explained that the bone of contention was the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System, IPPIS which the federal government had introduced to curb corruption as well as fish out ghost workers in the system.
The Minister said that ASUU agreed with the government that leakages and corruption should be tackled but has said that they have peculiarities that had made them not to embrace the IPPIS.
He said it would amount to corruption for the University teachers not to teach the students but expect to be paid within the period they were on strike, adding that the government would invoke “no work, no pay” policy.
He, however, said that the union has men of integrity and that they would see reason why the IPPIS policy was necessary.
Works and Housing Minister, Babatunde Fashola, disclosed that the 15 kilometer 9th mile to Enugu road contract has been re awarded to the Reynold Construction Company, RCC at the revised cost of N29.4b after it was redesigned due to its difficult terrain
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
