The Federal Government yesterday executed its threat to stop the salaries of members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) who refused to be a part of the Integrated Payment and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
President Muhammadu Buhari had earlier announced that he had directed the stoppage of the salary of federal government workers not captured in the IPPIS platform by the end of October 2019.
The development implies that those affected will get no salaries this month and are in for a bleak Christmas as they may not have the financial capacity to prepare well for the festive celebrations.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had recently stated: “It is a pity if ASUU carries out this strike because what ASUU is saying now is that they should be treated differently from other staff of the government of Nigeria who is also on IPPIS. We will be engaging ASUU. We will be discussing it with them. But at the end of the day, as far as I am concerned, my instruction is from the president.”
A top member of the ministry also said that no one would be spared as the policy came from the government and that grounds would not be shifted.
There is no going back on the decision to cut off all MDAs, ASUU inclusive. There is no sparing anyone because this is a policy of the government. There is nothing such as shifting grounds on this matter. The action has now been affected, in line with the order of the president.
If there is going to be a review tomorrow, I don’t know. But for now, that is the resolution. The minister and all the relevant officials have met on this and have effected the cut-off.
Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning Member – guardian.ng
ASUU had suspended its planned strike yesterday, with its leader, Biodun Ogunyemi, stating that the union had an alternative pay system for its members.
