Africa Press-Nigeria:
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared its members are not affected by President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that only federal workers on Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) would be paid salaries.
Its President Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), in Abuja.
Buhari, while presenting the 2021 Budget at a joint session of the National Assembly on Thursday, said that only federal workers captured by the IPPIS would continue to receive salaries.
He ordered all federal workers to enroll in the IPPIS platform, declaring that the platform was meant to check fraud, including the payment of salaries to non-existent personnel.
He said that the platform would also check the payment of unauthorised allowances.
But Ogunyemi, while reacting to the President’s directive, said the workers referred to were civil servants.
“The directive was meant for civil servants; university academics are not civil servants.
“We have an understanding with the government to develop an alternative platform that would be sensitive to the operations of the university and accommodate its peculiarities.
“The platform we are developing will also respect the autonomy of our universities as obtained globally.
“The idea of seeking clearance from the Head of Service or the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation is alien to university operations because it will halt its flexibility.
