The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has called on the federal government to immediately discard the use of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) meant for the payment of federal workers’ salaries and return to a platform where corruption can be checked step-by-step.
The union also charged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to carry out a thorough investigation; also to take the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris to court and ensure it pursues his case to a logical conclusion.
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President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, who stated these in an exclusive interview with Daily Trust on Tuesday, disclosed that apart from shortchanging of ASUU members by the IPPIS, many of them are still owed salaries ranging between 8 to 13 months.
“We have said it over and over again that IPPIS is a fraud. We have also said that the Accountant-General’s office is a fraud, and they are just using IPPIS to relocate all the fraudulent activities to one centre which is the Accountant-General office and we have been vindicated. That is our position.
“This IPPIS, I can tell you as we speak, that many of our members have not been paid for up to 13 months but they are telling the government that they are using it to control corruption.
He continued, “The report of the Auditor-General of the Federation confirmed it but we have a country where we don’t listen to the intellectuals. Now, thank God they have vindicated us. We had exposed them in the AGF’s office before.
“Our branch in Bauchi had exposed all these things, how they were building things in Kano, Abuja, all over the places, building markets, building these, building that. What’s the salary of an Accountant-General? Less than N1 million in a month and you’re building so many things with your family all over the country.
“I repeat, we have been vindicated. That is what we had been saying, that the IPPIS which is the major thing he (Ahmed Idris) has been pushing, is just to make money,” Osodeke told our correspondent.
Daily Trust had reported that the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, was arrested for N80bn alleged fraud while on his way to Kano on Monday.
Reacting to the development, the union leader called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to interfere in the case or allow any cover-up, saying corrupt people deserve punishment in line with this administration’s vision.
He stated, “We do hope that with this one, the federal government will have the courage to throw away the IPPIS, and go back to where we were, where we can check corruption on a step-by-step basis.
“Now, everything is done at the Accountant-General office and nobody checks them but thank God the EFCC has come out, listened to what we were saying and we have been vindicated.
“But we do hope that like we had been seen in the past, that before you know it with your smart lawyer, the man is released and then life is normal. We hope that will not happen this time.
“If you look at this country, there were people who have been tried for corruption in the past 10 years and nothing has happened to them. We know that. We hope that the EFCC will ensure a proper investigation is done, and the judges will ensure that the person is punished for what he has done.”
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