Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has said that the Federal Government’s proposal to exempt members of the ASUU from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System is a temporary measure pending the conclusion of integrity test on the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.
Ngige, who clarified the position of the government team on the negotiation with ASUU said that it was not true that the government had abandoned the IPPIS or that ASUU should not be on the platform.
Making the clarification on Saturday, the minister said, “I think it is better because a lot of people are quoting us out of context saying that we abandoned the IPPIS and that we said they should not be on IPPIS, it is not true.
“What we said in the meeting and what we agreed was that in the interim for the transition period that UTAS is being tested by NITDA and the Office of National Security Adviser for cyber security.
“For that transition period, ASUU members that are not yet on IPPIS will be paid through the platform with which they were paid the President’s compassionate COVID-19 payment done to them between the months of February and June.
“That platform is a hybrid platform between IPPIS and GIFMIS platform (Government Integrated Financial and Management Information System) for the transition period. That was what was used, it’s a hybrid.”
He said the reason for reaching that position was because no government payment will be done outside the IPPIS platform.
“So there is a handshake between IPPIS and GIFMIS platform and that was what was used in paying them for that period and so we are going to continue with that until UTAS undergoes all the integrity test and cyber security test and it is confirmed for use, ” he added.
On the N65 billion offer made to ASUU, the minister said that prior to the Friday meeting, the government made an aggregate offer of N50b to the union.