The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has embarked on a two- week warning strike starting today, Monday March 9, suggesting that the last may not have been heard about the saga between the Federal government and lecturers on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
The industrial action embarked upon by lecturers from Nigeria public universities is in protest of a ‘no pay, no work’ action by the Federal Government.
ASUU members are angry over the Federal Government decision to withhold the February salary of their members who refused to enrol on IPPIS, adding that they prefer the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS).
Biodun Ogunyemi, National president of ASUU called for the strike in Enugu, Monday, after the Union’s two-day National Executive Council meeting.
Ogunyemi observes that their members in Federal institutions were yet to be paid their February salaries because of the issue of Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information Service (IPPIS), adding that they needed to let the Federal Government know that enough was enough.
The ASUU president recalled that in their previous meetings, the Minister of Finance was solely concerned about IPPIS to the point that other issues were not addressed.
Ogunyemi said that the Union would reconvene if nothing was done at the expiration of the two-week strike to determine the next line of action.
ASUU through in branch chairmen in some of the states have noted that the integrated payroll system was defective and full of corruption.
They argue that the Federal Government has not told Nigerians the truth about what it wants to achieve through the IPPIS because the IPPIS is an embodiment of corruption itself. There is evidence to prove that many people are on the payroll under IPPIS yet they are not working anywhere. If they are sincere they should decentralise it, they said.
