The federal government has announced its guidelines for the removal of federal tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
Remember that the IPPIS scheme became a subject for protest between the Federal Government and public tertiary institutions under ASUU that alleged unilateral manipulation and fraud.
The centralised payroll system which was introduced in 2006 was meant to manage the salaries of the public sector employees. The Federal Tertiary institutions were integrated into the platform in 2016.
However, administrators across universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education argued that its centralised nature eroded the powers of provosts and governing councils since the head of the civil service often had to determine what staff were employed and when.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) proposed the Unified Treasury Accounting System (UTAS) as an alternative to the IPPIS.
Oluwatoyin Madein, the accountant-general of the federation, has now issued a circular effectively setting out guidelines for the removal of federal tertiary institutions from the IPPIS payroll platform. This has been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for institutional autonomy and efficient payroll management.
The circular highlighted an exit strategy for the tertiary institutions and mandated that the affected institutions immediately comply. The exit would be processed for October ahead of the exit in November 2024.
With this new payment method, the institutions would now process the payrolls themselves while the IPPIS department of accountant-general’s office vets them. All payments would also be through the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).
Madein said institutions must fill out and submit GIFMIS enrolment forms to personnel handling payroll-related roles before October 21.
On outstanding financial obligations that have been the subject of protests, the circular instructed federal tertiary institutions to compile data on promotion/salary arrears and forward them to the budget office of the federation for onward further processing and resolution.
Madein said the bank details of the employees must be validated and uploaded on the GIFMIS platform within the specified timeframe.
