Buhari, ASUU meet over IPPIS controversy

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday met with the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the presidential villa in Abuja.

Chris Ngige and Zainab Ahmed, ministers for labour and employment, and minister of finance, attended the meeting said to be at the instance of the university lecturers who have kicked against the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

ASUU had said as an autonomous body, the federal government ought not to give directive that its members should enlist on IPPIS.

Buhari had directed that all ministries, departments,  agencies of government, including staff of the police, the armed forces and educational institutions must key into the system.

He ordered the ministry of finance, budget and national planning to stop the payment of salaries of federal government workers, including members of ASUU, who failed to enroll on the IPPIS platform by October 31, 2019.

The government later extended the deadline to November 30.

The union had threatened to embark on a nationwide strike if the federal government stopped the payment of salaries of its members who refused to enroll.

While expressing its readiness for dialogue with the government, ASUU had proposed the University Transparency and Accountability Solution as an alternative to the government’s centralised payroll system of IPPIS.

Neither the presidency nor the union addressed the media to discuss the agenda of the meeting.