By Hallimah Olamide
Federal Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education have been taken off from the Integrated Personnel Payment System (IPPIS).
The approval for the removal of institutions was given by the Federal Executive Council at its meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa Abuja.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents alongside other ministers on the outcome of the FEC meeting, adding that the development is with immediate effect.
It would be recalled that The Federal Government had in 2005 introduced the IPPIS as one of its reform initiatives for the effective storage of personnel records, saying the move would improve transparency and accountability.
The IPPIS initiative was also be expanded to include all ministries, departments and agencies that draw personnel costs from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
In 2020, there were 696 ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAS) on the IPPIS platform.
However, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) kicked against the enrollment of public university lecturers on the software.
The academic union said it wanted University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS).
UTAS, the lecturers argued, accounts for the unique elements of university employment such as sabbatical leave, adjunct engagements, part-time engagements, and contractual obligations.
IPPIS has also been accused of being fraught with irregularities and discrepancies.
However, speaking on Wednesday, the minister said with the development, authorities of tertiary institutions will now be paying their personnel from their own end rather than relying on IPPIS.
“Today, the universities and other tertiary institutions have gotten a very big relief from the integrated payroll and personnel information system,” the minister said.
“You will recall that the university authorities and the others have been clamouring for the exemption of the universities and other tertiary institutions from this system.
“Today, the council has graciously approved that. What that means is that going forward, the universities and other tertiary institutions, the polytechnics, and colleges of education will be taken off the IPPIS.
“What that means in simple language is that the university authorities and other tertiary institutions will now be paying their own personnel from their own end instead of relying on the IPPIS,” he added