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Despite the directive by the federal government that all members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) be enrolled compulsorily into the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS), the union on Thursday, November 21, said that its members would not turn up for the exercise. The Nation reports that the government had announced on Wednesday, November 20, that it would begin enrollment of lecturers into IPPIS next week.
        According to reports, The office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Ahmed Idris, in an advertorial, said university teachers would be captured on the payroll system between November 25 and December 7.But speaking on the directive, the national president of ASUU, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, in an interview on Thursday, November 21, in Abuja, insisted that no lecture would enrol into the payroll system. The union leader said ASUU had proposed an alternative payroll system for lecturers, adding that the alternative would be comparable to federal government’s proposed IPPIS. He said university lecturers would have a follow-up meeting with the leadership of Senate to discuss the alternative they are proposing to the government. According to him, the leadership of the Senate has asked the union to maintain status quo, following threat of a strike in October. Ogunyemi said the government was expected to do same. He said: “We have not changed our position. Our discussion with the National Assembly, particularly the Senate, is that we should come up with an alternative that will be juxtaposed with what government is presenting. “As we have said, our alternative is in the works. We are working on the alternative that we proposed and we hope to have a follow-up meeting with the leadership of the Senate. “They have told us that the status quo should remain and we expect the ministry or the Accountant-General’s Office to also keep to that position. Asked what would happen to ASUU members who would show up for enrollment on Monday, November 25, the ASUU president said: “We are processing it, as I said, and we will respond appropriately. We have our own mechanism for handling that. It is not for the media.”