— Laments inefficiency of GIFMIS

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

ABUJA — THE Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, has threatened to down tools especially in the federal government owned Polytechnics over the delay in payment of members salaries.

ASUP also lament that since the government changed payment platform of its members from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, IPPIS, to Government Integrated Financial Management Information System, GIFTS, it has been tale of woes as salaries have not been regular in the past eight months.

In a statement on Sunday, the Union through its President, Comrade Shammah Kpanja, called for the immediate payment of July salary.

Kpanja said: “We hereby renew our calls for the release of June 2025 salaries to tertiary institutions in the country without any further delay and a departure from this new trend of delay in salary payments in the coming months.

“This call is made in the overall interest of the fragile industrial harmony in the tertiary education sector particularly the Polytechnics as no trade union will continue to watch her members go through these harrowing experiences every month as government continues to undermine her contractual obligations to workers at the end of each month.

“Our Union may be forced to direct her members to stay away from all affected Polytechnics if the situation does not improve in the coming days and sustain same until the salaries are paid; while adopting same pattern at the end of each month going forward.”

The Union said it is shameful that while the academic community is being punished with penury, political leaders continue to entertain themselves in mindless opulence and power grabbing activities for the next elections.

“This is unfortunate and symptomatic of a terminally sick nation,” It said.

It continued: “Our Union has observed a trend in the delay in payment of staff salaries across Federal Tertiary Institutions in the country in the last eight months. This new trend of subjecting staff of these institutions to the mental torture of enduring indeterminate periods of uncertainty concerning the release of the severely devalued  pittance now referred to as salaries coincides with the transition of the tertiary institutions from the IPPIS payment platform to the GIFMIS platform.

“Role players in the responsibility chain have consistently placed the blame on the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation attributing same to delay in the funding of the different institutions for the salaries over these eight months.

“We have consistently complained formally to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation before now without the desired improvement leaving staff of different Federal Polytechnics in distress at the end of each month.

“We are led to believe that the only plausible reason for this deliberate torture is the low value placed on the academic community by the government.

“This is because both payment platforms are hosted by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and it is expected that the transition between the payment platforms and using essentially same payroll information will be smooth and flawless.

“Eight months is too long a trial period for the transition and it is only a government that places low value on education will treat staff of tertiary education institutions in this manner”

ASUP condemned what it described as “undeserved treatment being meted out to workers in the tertiary institutions particularly in a difficult economy like ours.”

It alleged that workers in different tertiary institutions have been turned to beggars at the end of each month, “with the worthless salaries only serving to service debts incurred in the course of each month.”