By Levinus Nwabughiogu
House of Representatives Thursday waded into the face-off between the federal government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU over the Integrated Payroll And Personnel Information System (IPPIS) with a view to resolving the discrepancy.
The tasked was given to its Committees on Finance, Education, and Labour Employment and Productivity.
The committees would amongst other issues identify the cause of the conflict and proffer solutions as a way of reconciling the worrying parties.
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The faceoff stemmed from the federal government directive and insistence that all workers who draw salaries from the consolidated revenue account must be enrolled into the IPPIS, including ASUU.
But in their reaction, ASUU rejected the system and threatened to the down tool should the federal government go ahead with the implementation in the federal universities.
ASUU’s position is that the policy lacks legal backing and derogates the autonomy of the universities.
The House on the heels of a motion moved by Rep. Abbas Tajudeen at the plenary on the issue expressed fears that the insistence of the federal government on the IPPIS implementation may jeopardise the current peace and stability being enjoyed in the university campuses.
Tajudeen while leading the debate noted that though the IPPIS was a good policy to curb corruption and other social anomalies, the areas of discrepancies between the government and ASUU should be resolved.
“The House is convinced that whatever are the differences between the Federal Government and ASUU on the implementation of the IPPIS policy in the universities, the matter should not be allowed to degenerate to another strike in our universities”, he said.
Adopting the motion, the House gave the Committees two weeks within which to conclude their assignment and report back for further legislative input.
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