Abuja – The Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Jonah Otunla, has said that about N25 billion was spent on salaries of Federal Government workers in April.

Otunla said in Abuja on Thursday while inaugurating the Nigerian Universities System Working Committee on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

The AGF was represented by the Co-ordinator , IPPIS, AGF office, Mrs Fatima Mede.

He said the amount was used in payment of 254,000 staff in Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

“There are 318 Federal Government MDAs currently enrolled on the IPPIS platform. These MDAs have combined staff strength of about 254,000.

“In the month of April, we paid all these staff using the platform before the Easter holiday.

“A total sum of about N25 billion was paid as salaries to civil servants on the IPPIS,” he said.

Otunla said that despite the success recorded in the integration of MDAs, it was important to have other government organisations on the platform for better management of government personnel.

“We are here because our universities, colleges of education and polytechnics are yet to come on board.

“When the staff of these institutions come on board, we believe that we can better manage salaries of our public institutions.

“We understand that the universities are sceptical about coming on board because they do not believe that the IPPIS, as it is today, can manage the complexities of our staffing system,” he said.

He said the newly inaugurated committee was expected to look at ways to create a system that would take into account the peculiarities of tertiary institutions.

He said that the committee would also look at existing payroll system and see how they could be leveraged on and integrated into the IPPIS for efficiency.

Prof. Suleiman Abdul, a representative of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASSU), said it was important to note that it would be unrealistic to place all universities on one paying system.

“Every university has its own perculiarities. That is the beauty of our academic system. They hire and contract staff to fill in a vacancy as the need arises.

“So, a system that takes note of this and do not compromise the autonomy of the universities is the only kind that we will agree to be a part of,” he said.

The pioneer creator and consultant of the IPPIS, Dr Tony Davis, said the engagement of the committee was to brainstorm on ways to remodel the current IPPIS to suit the universities system.

“The objective of the committee is to review existing MIS systems in federal universities with a view of understanding the payroll and information functions.

The 20 delegates who were inaugurated including Prof. Sulieman Abdul, representing ASSU, Comrade Sunday Adefemi representing NASU and Comrade Illiyss Bello representing SSANU.

Mr Adole Edward is representing the Federal Ministry of Finance, Mr Angbashun Elsie is from Ministry of Education, while Mrs Haruna Amos is from National Universities Commission. (NAN)