Since the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) in 2019, different forces have emerged in tertiary institutions to fight the system. IPPIS caged university staff, limited their opportunities in impacting knowledge and made them poor because sabbatical is limited given the meager salary of academics in Nigeria.
Because of the disparity between university and other institutions, the university staff have better chance to criticise the monotony of IPPIS, and what other institutions lose in this effort to tackle and manage corruption as said by the Buhari’s government as the reason for the financial platform.
Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS) is identified with corruption ranging from staff salary deduction, recruitment of ghost staff and budget inflation by heads of tertiary institutions. And, while the federal government pays salary before 25th of every month, some schools pay beyond the months to generate interest.
Many rectors and vice chancellors of Nigerian tertiary institutions were caught diverting and siphoning staff salary. In 2016 the Federal Polytechnic Oko was accused of diverting staff salary. Federal Polytechnic, Ukana staff in 2018 petitioned the bursar of the school for alleged mismanagement of funds and other financial misconduct because he was in control of the school’s funds.
The tsunami of GIFMIS was charactererised with the exodus of sacking rectors because they had access to control the money and can easily sack any staff and stop his salary instantly. On this, evidence abound because there were more feud during GIFMIS with heads of tertiary institutions than with IPPIS. There were many bribe allegations by rectors and VCs wanting to remain in power.
The issue of corruption before the introduction of IPPIS swept through all tertiary institutions. Now that salaries are paid by IPPIS, only the internally generated revenue is tempered with. What remain for the government is introduce a reform to protect the IGR.
Government should create opportunities for academic staff of tertiary schools to get sabbatical in the IPPIS because GIFMIS has been tested and going back to it is a waste of time and resources; IPPIS is an enemy of corruption and corruption can be easily identified.
Dr. Abbas Tajudeen, Speaker House of Representatives promised to remove tertiary institutions from IPPIS, but should not be in a haste to act, there should be indices to consider because IPPIS is safer than GIFMIS when it comes to control of public funds. What is most needed is to provide a way for sabbatical because Nigerian tertiary institutions lack enough staff and only few want teaching job.
The President Bola Tinubu government should look into the problems of IPPIS and GIFMIS and provide solutions to the financial crisis in Nigerian tertiary institutions before jumping the gun as meager salary is the problem that affects Nigerian academicians when compared to other agencies. However, there is need to create opportunity of sabbatical in IPPIS platform to fill the gap of lecturers in other institutions, or accept the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for universities in Nigeria. These are the only solutions to ‘japa’ in Nigerian tertiary schools.
Auwal Ahmed Ibrahim Goronyo,
Kaduna, Kaduna state,
