The Federal Government has ordered stoppage of salaries of any university employee who refuses to be captured on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System with effect from November 2020.
The government gave the directive in its latest memo from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation with reference number OAGF/IPPIS/446/1/159, dated October 8, 2020, and signed by the Director, IPPIS, Nsikak Ben, for the AGF.
According to reports, the memo was issued to all university vice chancellors through the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigeria, Federal Universities.
The order read in part, “I am directed to inform you that any staff of your institution who has not enrolled on the IPPIS, either as a result of study leave (with pay), maternity leave or on medical ground, will no longer appear on the IPPIS payroll.
“This is with effect from November 2020, except such staff presents himself/herself for the biometric data capture at the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Abuja.”
The government said such worker would have to appear with an introductory letter/IPPIS enrolment forms duly endorsed by the principal authorities of the institution.
It added that all supporting documents should include evidence of six months’ salary, according to bank statements.
“In view of the above, kindly inform your staff in this category to urgently avail themselves for the biometric data capture at the OAGF,” the government stated in its memo to the vice chancellors.
It, however, noted that exemption might only be given where institutions provided evidence of study leave.
The government explained that in such an instance, the institution must state the duration to justify why such persons should be retained on the payroll.
When contacted for his reaction to the latest memo, the spokesperson for the OAGF, Henshaw Ogubike, confirmed the directive.
“The letter is from our office,” he said.
Recall that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had been locked in a recurring battle with the federal government over enrollment on IPPIS. The union is currently on strike to register its grievances and had also directed all its members nationwide to disregard the No, IPPIS, No Salary directive President Muhammadu Buhari.