By; AUWAL AHMED IBRAHIM GORONYO
Since the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) in 2019, different forces from the tertiary institutions emerged to challenge the system.
To university staff, it caged them, limited their opportunities in impacting knowledge and makes them poor, because visiting is limited, looking at the meager salary of academicians in Nigeria.
The oppositions of IPPIS from other institutions either blindly join university staff to fight the system, or because they are the people at the top that control the account of the institutions and now they are rendered idle.
Because of the disparity between university and other institutions, the university staff have better chances to criticize the monotony of IPPIS, and what other institutions lose in this effort to tackle and manage corruption as said by the Buhari’s government on the reason for the financial platform?
Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) is identified with lapses of corruption related offences ranging from staff salary deduction, recruitment of ghost staff and budget inflation by heads of tertiary institutions. And, while the Federal Government paid salary before 25th of every month, mostly some schools pay beyond the months to generate interest.
Many rectors and vice chancellors of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions were caught in the act of diverting and siphoning staff salary. In 2016 Federal Poly Oko was accused of diverting staff salary. Federal Polytechnic, Ukana staff in 2018 petitioned the bursar of the school for alleged mismanagement of funds and other irregularities of financial misconduct because he was at the control of the school fund, the tsunami of GIFMIS was characterized with the exodus of sacking rectors because they had access to control the money and can easily sack any staff they wished and stop his salary instantly. On this, there are more than hundred evidences because there are more feud during GIFMIS with head of tertiary institutions than now of IPPIS that the upper government is in control. There were so much bribe allegations of rectors and V.Cs wanted to remain in power at that time.
The issue of corruption before the introduction of IPPIS swept all through tertiary institutions, now that salaries are paid by IPPIS, only the Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) is tempered. What remain for the government is to come out with a reform to protect the IGR.
The only thing for government to do is to create a chance for all the academic staff of tertiary schools to get opportunity of sabbatical and provide the chance in the IPPIS because GIFMIS has been tasted and going back to is a waste of time and resources as IPPIS is an enemy of corruption and corruption can be easily identified.
Dr. Abbas Tajudeen, Speaker House of Representatives promised to remove tertiary institutions from IPPIS, but should not be in a haste to act, there should be indices to consider because IPPIS is more safer than GIFMIS when it comes to control of public fund. What is most needed is to provide a way for sabbatical because Nigerian tertiary institutions lack enough staff and only few want teaching job.
The Speaker who was in Zaria at the 3rd international conference of the Gender Policy Unit, Ahmadu Bello University, ABU, Zaria reiterated the commitment of the representative members to remove tertiary schools on IPPIS pay roll on the basic of ’empathy’ to work.What ’empathy’? When salaries are paid to those that work.
The Government of Bola Ahmad Tinibu should look into the problems of IPPIS and GIFMIS and provide solutions to the issues bothering financial crisis in Nigerian tertiary institutions before jumping the gun as meager salary is the problem that affects Nigerian academicians when compared to other agencies. However, There is need to create opportunity of sabbatical in IPPIS platform to fill the empty gap of lecturers in other institutions, and or accept the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for universities in Nigeria if negotiable. These are the only solutions to ‘japa’ in Nigerian tertiary schools.
Auwal Ahmed Ibrahim Goronyo is an academician and writes from Kaduna state, can be reached at auwalgoronyo@gmail.com
