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The Federal Government has received the nominal roll of about 41 universities as part of moves to capture university workers into the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System.
        The Coordinator of IPPIS in the Office of the Accountant- General of the Federation , Mr Olusegun Olufehinti , confirmed the figure to one of our correspondents during a telephone interview on Wednesday. He said the Federal Government was determined to ensure that all its employees were captured on the IPPIS platform . While stating that the exercise was a bit delayed in some institutions due to the difficulty in getting to those locations , he said the IPPIS officials from the OAGF had arrived at all the designated locations to conduct the exercise .

We employed individuals, not unions, FG tells ASUU
        He said at the end of the enrolment, only those that have been captured would be paid their salaries. Olufehinti said since the government did not employ any union , it was imperative for every employee of government to ensure they were captured on the personnel payroll platform. The IPPIS coordinator said since the commencement of the enrolment for university workers , the rate of response had been encouraging . He said , “ From the report we are having currently , they ( lecturers) are enrolling . The enrolment is just to take their biometrics because we have not got to payrolling . This is the first process. For now , we don’ t have problems despite their tactics.We have got 43 varsities nominal rolls ’ The response is encouraging . There is no cause for alarm, as of today, out of the 43 ( universities) we have received nominal roll from 41 of them. ” He described the IPPIS platform as an integral part of the Federal Government’s public finance reform initiatives aimed at ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of government payroll . IPPIS is the only basis you can get salaries, FG tells lecturers He said , “ The salary is personal and if that is the case, then we expect everyone that wants to be paid to enrol. Because that will be the only basis you can get your salary . So unions were not engaged, only the individual was employed and the Federal Government is trying to ascertain the number of those employees it has in all institutions and that is what we are driving at. It will help in the budgeting and every month we can ascertain how much would be required to pay nationwide. So for now, they are responding and even some that did not send in their nominal rolls have done that . Because they know that if they don ’t send it, they would be sanctioned. We have told them they can’ t delay this exercise . We have two weeks to do this and the number of people we capture within the two weeks, if it’ s 500 we capture in any university we assume those are the people that are there and those are the people that will be payrolled .”

IPPIS registration begins in varsities
        Investigations showed that the enrolment for the IPPIS began in many federal universities across the country on Wednesday despite the opposition of the Academic Staff Union of Universities. At the University of Jos , the Chairperson of the institution’ s Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities , Mrs Esther Ezeamah , told The PUNCH that the exercise started in the university on Wednesday. She said that SSANU was in support of the IPPIS enrolment and that members of union had been directed to participate fully throughout the period of the exercise in line with the position of the national secretariat.  It was, however, learnt that members of ASUU in the university were not taking part in the exercise .

IPPIS officials conduct exercise at UNILORIN
        Officials of the office of the AGF also started the enrolment at the University of Ilorin on Wednesday . Although there were claims that ASUU members in the university were taking part in the exercise , the Chairman of the union in the university , Prof Moyosore Ajao, denied the claim. The PUNCH correspondent observed that many workers of the university were at its Senate building to take part in the exercise . A member of the enrolment team from the office of the AGF, who spoke on condition of anonymity , said both academic and no- academic staff had been coming to enrol. When asked whether academic staff were participating in the exercise , he said , “ The first person that we attended to this morning is a lecturer he is a professor. So far , the exercise has been smooth. We have not had any labour issue . The university management has been cooperating . The exercise will last for two weeks” , he said. Our correspondent also observed that the management team from the University of Ilorin were also on the ground to identity their staff before issuing forms to them. But ASUU chairman , in an interview with The PUNCH, said , “ None of our members is participating . We have our members on the ground to monitor the exercise . Non- teaching staff of the University of Nigeria Nsukka have started registering for the IPPIS . One of our correspondents, who monitored the exercise , said ASUU members didn’ t enrol. A source said that ASUU set up a monitoring team to ensure that none of its members participated in the exercise .

Crisis rocks UNIPORT as students seal ASUU secretariat
        But at the University of Port Harcourt , a disagreement between ASUU members and the management of the university took a fresh turn on Wednesday when some students of the university locked up the two entrances leading to the ASUU secretariat in the institution. The students had earlier disrupted a meeting of ASUU members at the secretariat over what they said was a plan by the union in the university to embark on a strike over a disagreement bordering on the sacking of a lecturer , Prof. Frank Ugiomoh, by UNIPORT authorities. Acting under the aegis of Students’ Union Government, the undergraduates, who were on a peaceful protest , alleged that the UNIPORT branch of ASUU had planned to withhold student ’s results for the 2018 /2019 session . It was gathered that the threat to withhold the students ’ result was not unconnected with the termination of Ugiomoh’ s appointment.The protesting students noted that the withholding of result would alter the students’ academic pursuits . Students Union President, Sowari Daniel, while addressing journalists on the matter, stated that following recent developments in the institution, it was giving its support to the newly formed Congress of University Academics. He said , “ As stakeholders in the educational sector , we view ASUU’ s latest directive to lecturers to withhold the second semester results of the 2018/ 2019 session as a deliberate and calculated attempt to hold the system to ransom and to service their selfish ego for political point. But the Chairman of ASUU , UNIPORT Branch, Dr. Austen Sado, decried the action of the students and accused the Vice Chancellor of the University , Prof. Ndowa Lale, and the university administration of orchestrating the students’ action . Sado said , “ Since the illegal and unjust purported termination of the appointment of Prof. Frank Ugiomoh, our union has made conciliatory efforts to de- escalate the cloud of tension hanging over the university created by the vice chancellor. We made representations towards a resolution to the vice chancellor on the matter, but the vice chancellor had other ideas. In a bid to humiliate Prof. Ugiomoh and decimate our union , caution was thrown to the wind . One would have expected the administration to be a little more circumspect in dealing with the matter at hand .” Reacting, UNIPORT Spokesman, Dr . William Wodi, said it was wrong for ASUU to drag the VC into the issue of the sack of a lecturer in the university , adding that the university ’s governing council investigated , found Ugiomoh culpable for misconduct and was sacked. Wodi said , “ The Chairman of ASUU, Port Harcourt branch, we were told , wanted to hold a meeting to declare strike. Even if we have been told that they did not want to declare a strike, there is a letter he wrote to the vice chancellor, where he talked about activating a process. In union ’s language , activating a process means declaring a strike. So, the students who are about to graduate and be mobilised for the youth service felt that if their results were withheld, which Dr . Austen Sado apparently wants to use as a weapon , their results may not be presented before the Senate.