Protesting university staff vow to resist IPPIS in Makurdi

Protesting staff of the Federal University of Agriculture in Makurdi (FUAM) under the Joint Action Congress (JAC) have vowed to resist the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information Service (IPPIS) introduced by the Federal Government because it has done more harm than good to both staff and retired members of the university.

The Joint Action Congress (JAC) which comprises members of Non Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) and Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), noted that their protest followed a directive from the national body over failure of the federal government to pay minimum wage signed into law in 2019 and failure of government to renegotiate 2009 agreement since 2012.

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They described IPPIS as a scam while continuing a three-day peaceful protest which began on Tuesday with various placards at the school gate, to press home their demands.

They stressed that, since the introduction of IPPIS, it has been one problem or the other as many staff are being owed months of allowances, salaries and as well as difficulty in accessing payment.

JAC acting chairman in FUAM, Comrade Moses Girgi, who also doubles as NASU chairman, noted that there had been irreconcilable inconsistency created by the IPPIS such that allowances and other benefit had been stopped.

Girgi called on the federal government to find ways to address the issues and rectify them as the problem created by the newly introduced system was getting out of hand.

The protesters bore placards with inscriptions such as: “Return positions of Non Teaching Staff back to them”, “IPPIS is a scam”, “Enough is enough”, “Return our monthly allowances back to our salaries”, “Pay JAC its N120 billion EA now”.

Others are: “2009 Agreement is long over due for review”, “Pay us our minimum wages arrears now”, “Pay us our entitlement now” and “Pay our retired members their benefit now”, “We are not slaves”, among others.

Also, the protesters demanded that the federal government honour the 2009 agreement which has been long over due for review, while also demanding the payment of minimum wage arrears, their entitlement, and benefit of retired members among others.

They recalled that though one Babalakin was made chairman of the negotiating team, the committee however did not sat for one day, while government promised to institute a committee yet nothing has happened in that direction.