The Director of Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) Mr. Olufehinti Olusegun has shed more light on why the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, and a few other agencies are not on their platform.
Mr. Olusegun explained that they are all revenue-generating agencies of the Federal Government who don’t get their personnel cost from the consolidated revenue funds.
The IPPIS boss who was on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday stated that the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari was decisive and it targeted Ministries, Department, and Agencies of Government who draw their cost from the consolidated revenue funds.
President Buhari, during the 2020 budget presentation to the joint session of the National Assembly, directed that all Federal Government workers yet to be captured in the IPPIS platform risk not being paid by the end of October 2019.
The directive generated a reaction, particularly from the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) who argued that they were not under the MDA’s and such arrangement will not fit into the university system.
“It is surprising because the President’s directive was direct and decisive that all MDA’s or institutions drawing their salaries from consolidated revenue funds which are a Federal Government account is to key into IPPIS.
“The government knows that all agencies cannot be brought in at a go, but for those who get their personnel cost from the consolidated revenue funds of the FG should be brought on board.
“For CBN, FIRS, NNPC they are revenue agencies who live on cost of collection; they are revenue-generating agencies to FG so they don’t draw from the consolidated revenue funds as of today.”
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He added that, “it is left to government to know what to do because it is a journey that has just started which FG believes the best way to save Nigeria scarce resources is to ensure these monies are not wasted through other means, that is why FG restricted it to consolidated revenue funds MDAs that come to request for funds.”
Mr. Olusegun revealed that between 2017 and 2018, the Federal Government realized over N273bn from MDAs and ASUU by association with the Ministry of Education, should be captured on the platform.
However, the President of ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, posited that going by the IPPIS arrangement, it will be impossible to welcome university scholars who come to add some support service to the system.
He said that the original design of IPPIS is meant for accountability in the civil services and universities are not part of core civil service.
“Universities welcome scholars who come for some support services to revitalise the system, but Nigeria, going by IPPIS arrangement, would not have room for that, even if a scholar in diaspora wants to come to Nigeria for one year sabbatical leave, bringing a lot of experience, the IPPIS arrangement will not accommodate such.
“IPPIS was originally designed as a program meant for professionalism and accountability in the civil service and universities are not part of MDAs of core civil service.”
