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Tag: IPPIS

  • JUST IN: FG exempts universities, other tertiary institutions from IPPIS

    JUST IN: FG exempts universities, other tertiary institutions from IPPIS

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday, December 16, approved the exemption of tertiary institutions, including universities, from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Systems (IPPS).

    The Minister of Education, Professor Mamman Tahir, who disclosed this to journalists after the week’s FEC meeting, also said the Council relieved managements of tertiary institutions of the burden of obtaining approval and waiver from the Office of the Head of Service for recruitment.

    According to the Minister, the exemption of tertiary institutions from the IPPIS platform and from seeking the Head of Civil Service’s authority for recruitment would allow the institutions to deal with salary issues of their staff, as well as recruitment internally. 

    He said the FEC decided to remove the institutions from the IPPIS system because it was concerned with efficiency and the management of the institutions.

    According to him, apart from the opposition to the payment system by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the IPPS issue had proved time-consuming for university vice-chancellors.

    The minister explained that as the tertiary institutions are governed by laws, they should be allowed to exercise their autonomy.

    He said: “It was a very happy day for the education sector because one of the problems which the vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts of colleges of education, those managing the tertiary sector in Nigeria, have been complaining about has been the subscription to the IPPIS

    “You know what IPPIS does, which has made recruitment and many other activities of the university remitting to personnel very difficult. Now today’s Council decided, that the President has directed that the vice-chancellor should no longer…they have been taken out of that service. So this is a very, very important development for the vice-chancellors that will allow for efficient management of the universities and tertiary education generally speaking.

    “Then secondly, which is connected to that, before now when the tertiary institutions want to make an appointment, they have to write to the Office of the Head of Service for waiver or approval or that sort of thing.

    “Today, the council, through the directive of the President, has exempted them. They don’t have to go to the Office of the Head of Service because it is actually not in their line of supervision.

    The IPPIS had been a bone of contention between university lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

    In 2020, ASUU, which went on an eight-month strike due to disputes with the Federal Government regarding the payment platform opted for the University Transparency Account System (UTAS).

    Read Also: Reps committee clears airs, says Abbas did not promise removal of lecturers from IPPIS

    The IPPIS was introduced by the federal government in October 2006 as part of its reform initiatives to effectively store personnel records and promote transparency and accountability.

    Giving a bit more clarity to the approval of IPPIS, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammed Idris, said: “Today, the universities and other tertiary institutions have gotten a very big relief from the integrated personnel payroll and information system. You will recall that the university authorities and others have been clamouring for the exemption of universities and other tertiary institutions from this system.

    “Today, the council has graciously approved that. What that means is that going forward, the universities as the Honorable Minister of Education has said and other tertiary institutions, the polytechnics, and colleges of education will be taken off the IPPIS.

    “What that means in simple language is that the university authorities and other tertiary institutions will now be paying their own personnel from their own end instead of relying on the IPPIS”, he said.

    The education minister also said the council approved the construction of the Senate Building at the University of Nigeria and funds to the National Examination Council (NECO).

  • Reps committee clears airs, says Abbas did not promise removal of lecturers from IPPIS

    Reps committee clears airs, says Abbas did not promise removal of lecturers from IPPIS

    The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on University Education, Hon. Abubakar Hassan Fulata has distanced the Speaker of the House, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen from a statement that university lecturers will be removed from the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS).

    Speaking while representing the Speaker at the 3rd International Conference on Gender Policy at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Fulata had said that the House would pursue the interest of the academia.

    He said the House was committed to removing the tertiary institutions from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), to enhance lecturers’ welfare and reduce the brain drain syndrome.

    However, in a statement, he personally signed on Sunday, Hon. Fulata said the statement was not authorized by the Speaker or the House of Representatives.

    Although he did not deny the statement, he said the statement was made in his personal capacity, while saying he will continue to work for the welfare of teachers in the country.

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    The statement reads: “My attention has been drawn to media reports in which I, Hon. Abubakar Hassan Fulata, as the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on University Education, spoke at the 3rd International Conference of the Gender Policy Unit, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, and expressed my personal opinion on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) on Wednesday, December 6, 2023.

    “However, and unfortunately so, the media attributed my opinion on the need to remove tertiary institutions from IPPIS to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D.

    “I want to make it categorically clear that I spoke in my personal capacity as a member of the House of Representatives. Therefore, my opinion on IPPIS remains mine and not that of the Speaker or any other member of the House for that matter.

    “Let me restate that as a member of the House, I am determined to work with my colleagues to improve the welfare of teachers in our tertiary institutions through additional budgetary allocations.

    “I shall also work with my colleagues to make sure that education receives a substantial portion of the national budget to meet the United Nations requirement of 26 percent of the national budget.

    “Let the media be guided and always attribute comments to appropriate sources.”

  • NASS to remove tertiary institutions from IPPIS – Speaker

    NASS to remove tertiary institutions from IPPIS – Speaker

    The House of Representatives has restated its commitment to remove tertiary institutions from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), to enhance lecturers’ welfare and reduce the brain drain syndrome.

    Dr. Abbas Tajudeen, Speaker House of Representatives made this known on Thursday in Zaria at the 3rd International conference of the Gender Policy Unit, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria.

    Tajudeen, represented by Dr. Abubakar Fulata, House Committee Chairman on Education, said the House would pursue the interest of academia and one of those issues in contention was the issue of IPPIS.

    According to him, IPPIS is a single minded computer programme that is anti-intellectual, anti-education and completely ignorant of the issues involved.

    “It is our determination to ensure that universities, polytechnics and colleges of education are removed from IPPIS.

    “It is also our determination to make sure that education receives a substantial portion in the national budget at least to meet up with the United Nations requirement of 26 per cent of the National budget,’’ he said.

    The speaker said that regrettably the system had downgraded education in the country to a level where teachers` survival was put at risk.

    He said the National Assembly had an engagement with the vice-chancellors across the country, and they were made to understand that a professor’s take-home after deduction was less than N450, 000.

    Read Also: IPPIS: ‘5,000 verified civil servants‘ ll earn Dec pay’

    The speaker described such a salary (N450, 000) for the university professors as embarrassing to the education sector.

    He said fighting poverty, gender inequality and insecurity was not merely a moral imperative but a fundamental necessity for the progress and prosperity of the nation.

    Abbas was also a recipient of the Award of Excellence in the fight against poverty, gender inequality and insecurity at the conference.

    Earlier, Prof. Kabiru Bala, Vice-Chancellor, ABU, said the conference was another step towards realising the ABU’s aspiration of becoming a world-class academic and research institution.

    Bala was represented by Prof. Ahmed Doko, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Administration.

    He said the conference provides an opportunity for the professionals in the academia, security, and other stakeholders to engage in critical discourse on implications of insecurity to the SDG goals.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the three-day conference has `Gender and Security in Africa: the Implications for Sustainable Development Goals’ as its theme.

    The conference was jointly organised  by the Gender Policy Unit of the ABU and Center for Gender Studies of Bayero University, Kano.

    (NAN)

  • IPPIS: ‘5,000 verified civil servants‘ ll earn Dec pay’

    IPPIS: ‘5,000 verified civil servants‘ ll earn Dec pay’

    The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has assured that the 5,000 federal civil servants, who had been verified for alleged discrepancies in their dates of birth and appointment, will receive their salaries in December.

    ASCSN President, Mr Tommy Okon, gave the assurance yesterday in Lagos, following some reports suggesting that the affected civil servants would not receive their December salaries.

    The Federal Government had, in September, delisted more than 17,000 workers from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) platform for allegedly failing to comply with verification exercise spanning over five years.

     Following the intervention of ASCSN, the government, through the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, in October, began verification of the delisted civil servants.

    Read Also: Review IPPIS like 40% IGR deductions, COEASU begs Tinubu

        Okon said: “Among those who were verified, 5,000 have discrepancies in their records of service, ranging from date of birth and date of first appointment, of which the head of service has set up a six-man team to rectify it.

        “This was done so that those issues can be resolved for them to be able to earn salary in December, and it was also agreed that they, upon getting both the payment of salary and the arrears from September, will be paid in December.”

        The ASCSN president also said that those who did the verification, both online and physical, the head of service discovered, after the collation, that 2,772 did not have any problem.

        He said that their names had already been forwarded for payment, adding, however, that they could not meet up with the November salary as at the time of forwarding their names.

  • IPPIS: Fed Govt to delist unverified workers from payroll after tomorrow

    IPPIS: Fed Govt to delist unverified workers from payroll after tomorrow

    Federal workers whose names are missing from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) will  cease to earn salaries as from month end.

    No fewer than 89,100 workers on the federal payroll were yet to update their records as directed by the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) as at October 3.

    Seven hundred and eighty thousand had done so.

    In April 2017, OHCDF commenced online registration and physical verification of public servants with the aim of having their names enrolled on the IPPIS platform. The programme, which is meant to curb ghost workers syndrome and block leakages through personnel cost, ends tomorrow.

    OHCSF Director of Communications  M. A. Ahmed explained that with the expiration of the deadline, government had no choice than to delist all names not found on the  IPPIS from its payroll.

    Ahmed said: “The office carried out aggressive sensitization and publicity via the official, conventional and social media. An initial period of three (3) months was given for compliance, which was extended to one year, May 2018, to enable all officers to update their records. This was the first phase.

    “Sequel to another wide publicity accompanied by numerous pre-verification sensitisation visits by IPPIS staff to ministries, extra-ministerial departments and agencies nationwide, the second phase of the exercise, the physical verification, commenced in 2018.

    “In this regard,  500 staff from the OHCSF were trained and deployed, in well-communicated and coordinated phases, to the  36 states of the federation and the FCT(Federal Capital Territory) between 2018 and 2019 to enable officers to carry out the physical verification in their states and save them from travelling to Abuja.

    “The OHCSF also conducted a two-week mop-up exercise in the six geo-political zones, which ended on August 1, 2019 to further enable those who missed the first exercise to be effectively captured.

    “Teams of officials were also assigned to all unity colleges, in order not to disrupt academic activities. Another opportunity was provided between September 2022 and February 2023 for those who failed to verify their records in the previous exercises to do so.

    Read Also: How college workers, students attacked our operatives, by EFCC

    “Having committed substantial financial and human resources over a period of seven years to verify the records of all civil servants on the IPPIS platform, our office was left with no option than to suspend the salaries of those who failed to participate in the exercise with effect from September 2023.

    “Consequent upon this, some of the erring officers besieged the OHCSF with pleas to be given the last opportunity to comply. The portal was, therefore,   reopened on  October  3 to 13, 2023  to enable them to update their records.

    “The officers were then asked to come to Abuja for the physical verification exercise as the office had already committed and exhausted the budgeted funds and was unable to further deploy staff to the states for the exercise.”

    The OHCSF  spokesman also reacted to the claims by some workers that they encountered difficulties during the verification in the FCT.

    He explained that in spite of the fact that officers were disorderly in the first two days of the exercise,   the OHCSF still granted a two-week grace that will end tomorrow. 

    Ahmed  said: “It should be noted that the aforementioned officers are the architects of their inconvenience for not being compliant with official directives.

    “However, the verification of records of all civil servants will be finalised at the end of the ongoing exercise and any officer whose record could not be verified will be delisted from the payroll of government.” 

  • IPPIS verification exercise: Civil servants beg Tinubu to call HoSF to order, seek improved treatment

    IPPIS verification exercise: Civil servants beg Tinubu to call HoSF to order, seek improved treatment

    President Bola Tinubu has been urged to call the Head of Service of the Federation, Folasade Yemi-Esan, over the ongoing Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) verification for 17,000 federal civil servants whose salaries have been put on hold since September.

    The Nation gathered that the details of the affected civil servants were not captured by the IPPIS to partake in the registration exercise.

    It was learnt that all the affected workers were mandated to show up for a physical exercise in Abuja from Monday, October 16 to Friday, October 27, 2023, at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria (PSIN), Kubwa Expressway, Abuja.

    One of the affected staff, who spoke with The Nation on condition of anonymity, expressed concern for the ongoing IPPIS exercise in Abuja, saying that the process should prioritise the safety and well-being of civil servants.

    Proposing a decentralised approach, he suggested screening across the six geo-political zones to ease the burden on the affected 17,000 staff and prevent potential stampedes, citing a recent unfortunate accident involving colleagues from Gombe.

    He said: “We are faced with inhumane treatment as we grapple with the screening process.”

    The civil servant shed light on the urgent necessity for a safer and more streamlined screening procedure, especially considering the overwhelming crowds and associated risks.

    Read Also: IPPIS: we will delist only ghost workers from payroll, says Fed Govt

    According to him, “We believe in the Renewed Hope Agenda championed by President Bola Tinubu and the principles of employee welfare and safety must be upheld during this vital exercise. This administration stands true to its commitment to the well-being and prosperity of all workers as the ethos set forth by the exemplary legacy of Tinubu’s governance in Lagos state.

    “During Tinubu’s tenure as the governor of Lagos state, civil servant welfare stood as a shining example of dedication to public service. The emphasis on employee welfare not only boosted morale but also enhanced productivity, setting a standard that advocates believe should be upheld at the federal level.”

    “The workers are frustrated, only 30 people were attended to on Monday by the IPPIS officials despite the number of people involved. There are about 5,000 people who gathered at the centre today, many of them are nursing mothers and more are still on their way from across the country.”

    Speaking on the way out of their predicament, he further stated: “We are demanding the decentralisation of the exercise to lessen the burden and frustration of the affected workers.

    “South-West can do theirs in Lagos, South-East in Enugu or somewhere there and same for other regions instead of asking 17000 to come to Abuja and only doing 30 in one day.”

    Another staff who spoke on condition of anonymity said: “The concerned people should see what civil servants are going through and come out with better ways of carrying out this exercise as soon as possible, please.

    “This is what the inefficiency of those who took decisions on this exercise reduced civil servants to. This is so unfortunate and unprofessional of the head of the service, they are supposed to schedule a timetable for different ministries and not tell everyone to meet like this, this can result in injuries on some people or stamped.”

  • IPPIS: we will delist only ghost workers from payroll, says Fed Govt

    IPPIS: we will delist only ghost workers from payroll, says Fed Govt

    The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that the recent removal of some names of workers from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) was meant to rid the civil service of ghost workers.

    The spokesman in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), Mr. Bawa Mokwa, told The Nation that those not captured in the last verification would get a second chance to validate their existence in service.

    The verification, he explained, is an exercise conducted yearly by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHoCSF).

    On IPPIS, Mokwa said the platform only processes data submitted to it from the HoCSF, adding that it does not translate to sacking workers.

    The spokesman said the information at the disposal of the OAGF showed that the total number of civil servants who failed to participate in the verification is less than 17,000.

    According to him, anybody whose details are not captured on the IPPIS platform are automatically locked out of it.

    Mokwa said such individuals would not be able to access his or her salary until the issue is rectified.

    The Director Communications at the OHoCSF, Muhammad Ahmed, blamed those delisted for not using the time allotted for the verification to ensure that they were captured on the IPPIS.

    He said: “Five years is enough time to have done their online verification. So, it is easy to assume that they are ghost workers.”

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    “Those whose names were delisted from the portal, erroneously, should come forward and submit their documents for verification. The portal will be open next week for those who have not done their online verification.

    “So far, 818 from the names delisted have submitted their documents. We have verified their names and sent to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.

    “We urge those who have not already done so to quickly do the needful so their names can be reinstated into the IPPIS portal.”

    A source at the OHoCSF said it became necessary to take the action as most of the persons delisted from the government payroll were suspected to be ghost workers.

    But he maintained that their appointment had not been terminated from the civil service while their names could also be reinstated into the IPPIS as soon as they complete their verification.

    He said: “In 2018, the Head of Service asked all civil servants to do an online verification: print out a copy and give to their Head of Department to sign and then submit.

    “Most of the names delisted from the IPPIS are those who failed to do the verification. So, it is suspected that they’re ghost workers.

    “However, not all of them are ghost workers. Some are those who are naturally nonchalant and failed to do it out of negligence. Some are actually ghost workers. Some are no longer alive. There are some who have travelled abroad but are still collecting salary, while some others are just human errors.

    “For example, some political appointees were delisted, some commissioners and a host of others who evidently went through the verification are on the list. This is why I said some are mere human errors.

    “However, the Head of Service has given all those whose names were delisted an opportunity to come and repeat the verification and those who already have the document should come and submit.

    “Although they will not receive salary for September – and perhaps subsequent months – until necessary clearance is done, then they will be reinstated on the IPPIS. This will enable the Head of Service to know those who are really ghost workers.”

  • IPPIS: SSANU UniAbuja chairman, members disagree on bribery allegations

    IPPIS: SSANU UniAbuja chairman, members disagree on bribery allegations

    The Chairman Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), University of Abuja Branch, Nurudeen Taiye, has refuted bribery allegations levelled against him by some members of the union.

    Some members of SSANU, the National Association of Academic Technicians (NAAT), and the Non-Academic Staff Union ( NASU) had pointed fingers at Taye and some members of colluding with some officials of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) to manipulate staff payroll.

    In a petition to the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating gross mismanagement of the IPPIS and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), the university workers alleged unauthorised diversion of staff allowances by the SSANU chairman.

     According to the petition, staff hazard and responsibility allowances had been diverted to bribe IPPIS officials in exchange for the release of outstanding arrears owed to staff by the Federal Government.

     The petition was signed by Mallam Balarabe Hashim, a member of SSANU at the University of Abuja on behalf of over 1000 affected staff and addressed to Yusuf Gagdi, Chairman of the House’s Ad-hoc Committee on IPPIS.

    The workers distanced themselves from any involvement or authorisation in bribing IPPIS officials for withheld allowances.

    They emphasised that it was not the SSANU chairman’s responsibility to facilitate the release of the allowances, adding that no such approval was ever granted even though the Chairman presented the matter on the floor of congress in April.

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    The petition, which provided evidence, including deductions of up to N30,000 intended for senior staff hazard allowances and N25,000 for senior staff responsibility allowances and N15,000 for junior staff, showed that the funds were transferred to the SSANU and Crescent Cooperative accounts without proper authorisation, raising moral and legal concerns on the need for an unconditional refunds of these unauthorised deductions to the affected staff.

    Part of the petition reads: “At no point did Congress approve such deductions towards bribing IPPIS officials. Even though the issue was raised, there was no such agreement reached. Since the issues started, the Chairman of SSANU has refused to give detailed explanations to members of Congress on how their allowances landed in cooperative accounts even as the chairman of SSANU and Crescent Cooperatives keep insisting the deductions were done with the approval of the SSANU Executives.

    “We did not authorise any such deductions and we have not been given any details on the IPPIS officials who were bribed. At this moment, all we want is a refund of the illegal and unauthorised deductions.

    “Even though there has been no word from the Chairman of SSANU who seems to be spearheading this racket for his personal gains, it is estimated that over ?30,000,000 has so far been deducted from staff salaries between May and June alone. What is surprising is that, the SSANU chairman and his collaborators who effected the deductions without due process and are not willing to account for their actions.

     “The Union members are passionately appealing to the House Ad-hoc Committee Investigating Gross Mismanagement of IPPIS , ICPC and EFCC to step in and cause the refund of their monies since there seems to exist a grand conspiracy between the management of the two cooperatives involved in this scam and the mastermind, the SSANU chairman Mr. Nurudeen Yusuf Taiye, even in the face of hardship being faced by Nigerians over the removal of fuel subsidy especially in the area of transportation and the purchase of necessities.”

     But, when contacted via telephone, SSANU, chairman, University of Abuja, Taiye denied the allegations.

     “There is no iota of truth in this matter. Union don’t pay allowances nor do we have power to divert funds not at our disposal. Did we also divert funds for other universities that are being implemented?

    “This petition has been sent and investigated by the DSS, ICPC, EFCC, not satisfied, they are taking to the press,” he added.

  • Fed Govt to review IPPIS, GIFMIS others

    Fed Govt to review IPPIS, GIFMIS others

    The Federal Government has decided to review financial management policies like the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and Government Integrated Financial Management System GIFMIS among others.

    The Federal Government also resolved to provide timely and consistent flow of funds to the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as the three levels of government (federal, state, and local) in order to prevent any hindrance to development efforts.

    These disclosures were made by the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) Dr. Oluwatoyin Madein, in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday and signed by Mr. Bawa Mokwa, Director Press in the OAGF.

    Speaking of the planned financial management reforms, the AGF said she “will take necessary steps to permanently resolve observed and potential threats to the efficient and continuous implementation of all the financial management reforms initiative of the Federal Government.

    Madein said since she assumed office as the AGF, she “has undertaken in-depth review of the financial reforms and will leverage the outcome of the review to inject new ideas and strategies into the projects so that the gains so far recorded will be sustained.

    “Recently, the OAGF had meticulous engagements with IPPIS Service providers. I can assure you that there has been great improvement in the operations of the payment platform. The review of other financial management policies is underway.

    “The objective is to give the necessary revitalization to these policies to make them function optimally,” she explained.

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    Regarding the release of funds to MDAs and other tiers of government, previous administrations were known for denying MDAs funds, claiming that there were no sufficient funds available.

    The current administration under Bola Ahmed Tinubu aims to rectify this situation by ensuring that funds are released promptly and continuously, thereby preventing any delays or obstacles in the development projects and initiatives of the MDAs and government entities.

    According to Dr. Madein, “the Federal Government has said it will ensure prompt and continuous release of funds to the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and the three tiers of government so that development effort will not be hampered.”

    To show good faith on the part of the federal government, the AGF disclosed that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) “will sustain the practice of publishing the details of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) revenue distribution to the three tiers of government”.

    She noted that “publication of the revenue distribution will keep Nigerians abreast with the revenue generation and distribution effort of the Federal Government and also help them balance government performance with revenue inflows at all levels.

    According to her, “a government can only thrive if the citizens are carried along in the management of public funds. Nigerians need to be aware of the inflows and expenditures. With this, they can compare revenue collected with the developments on grounds to ascertain whether the government is performing or not”.

    She revealed that “the 2022 revenue distribution figures were ready for publication, adding that this will be followed by the publication of the details of the revenue distribution so far made in 2023”.

    Madein explained that “the seeming delay in publishing the 2022 figures was due to a number of factors including the overriding determination to institute appropriate and permanent mechanisms that will guarantee continuous publication of the revenue distribution”.

    The AGF equally acknowledged and “appreciated the high level of interest shown by Nigerians in the revenue generation and distribution effort of the Government, assured that effort is in top gear to ensure that the revenue distribution figures are published monthly”.

    On revenue generation, the AGF was happy that “there has been a remarkable increase in government revenue” and expressed optimism that the trend will be sustained.

  • We don’t pay workers’ salaries, IPPIS tells Reps committee

    We don’t pay workers’ salaries, IPPIS tells Reps committee

    The director in charge of the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS), Emma James Do, said on Tuesday, August 29, that they were not responsible for the payment of salaries or workers, but only the process of payment. 

    Deko, who spoke at the resumed hearing of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating non remittance of deduction from workers salaries for the National House Fund, also said that in most cases, deductions from workers are not remitted because of shortage of cash backing for approvals for wages. 

    He also added that sometimes, they get directives to only the net of the workers’ salaries, while the gross is kept in view because of shortage of funds. 

    According to him, while IPPIS prepares the salaries for only federal workers, the government appointed four gateways that are responsible for the payment of the salaries to workers. 

    He gave the names of the gateways which he said are not situated within the IPPIS as Nigeria Interbank Payment System (NIPS), E-Transact, Remita and GIFMIS. 

    He stated: “So, like I said, IPPIS is not in charge of every employee of the federal government. IPPIS is only covering the executive arm. So, what I am trying to say is that, IPPIS is not in charge of every employee of government. 

    “Having said that, let me go back to the requirements from IPPIS. The first one is evidence of remittance by all stakeholders and unremitted so far by the MDAs. The last part of it, the names of beneficiaries, I don’t think IPPIS can provide that because we don’t give to beneficiaries. 

    “We cannot talk about evidence of remittance without deductions, because it is only when you deduct that you can remit. I must be sincere that, we have been trying to collate this information because it relates as far back as 2011 to date, based on the request of this Honourable committee.

    “We have been on it, but we have one constraint and that constraint is the fact that after deductions, we remit and the we are to pay salaries. 

    “There are instances where the cash backing may not cover the entire salary wage bill for a particular month., and in that instance, we are advised, we are directed to pay only the net, which means that, all deductions will be stepped down. 

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    “I want to put it on record that I became the director IPPIS in February 2023, and when I came in, I was told and I also observed from records that, from December 2022 to the point I was joining, they’ve already been paying net. And I also went through the records and discovered that, there were instances like that in the past.

    “It made us to understand that, it is not all deductions that were remitted and it is not the fault of IPPIS. IPPIS is meant to deduct and remit. And that bring me to the point that, remittance, payment of salaries is not done in IPPIS, we only process. 

    Deco further stated: “There are four payment gateways engaged by government to do the payment. Nigeria Interbank Payment System (NIPS), E-Transact, Remita and GIFMIS. These are not situated within IPPIS. We only process and they have the gateway to remit these monies.

    “Why I am saying this is because the records of remittance is not with us. Since this instruction was sent to me by my boss, we have been trying to reach these people, and till this morning, we are , even our staff were online till 2am, 3am to get these records so that we can answer this Honourable committee. We have been getting them in piecemeal. 

    “So, as I speak, we were not able to get everything coherently and, totally based on what this honourable committee wants, but we are on it. We are bound to respond to this Committee totally. 

    “We are committed to that totally. We are assuring you that, we will do everything within our power to respond to the request of this Committee. We’ll not hinder this committee’s work. No. We are accountants and accountants keep records.

    “But, in this instance,  we are not able to do certain things because we are constrained. Let me give you an instance, I am sure all of us are aware, the money is in CBN. 

    “When these remittances are done, the CBN is supposed to get us statements. Sometimes when they give you statements , may be payment was made to hundred people , they will give you a figure of let’s say N10 billion and you ask for the breakdown to do reconciliation as an accountant, but as we speak, it is difficult , it is not only in IPPIS, it is in all the accounting cadre.

    “We have been facing this problem, we cannot reconcile our accounts because they give you bulk figure, and with those figures you cannot reconcile. I am sure my colleagues from the Auditor General are aware of this. So, this is our constrain. But, we were able to put down something for now, just to respond to you. We are on it, we will respond fully as the information trickle in”.

    However, the committee summoned the Accountant General of the Federation to appear before the committee on Thursday to explain the delays in remitting deductions from workers salaries to the Federal Mortgage Bank. 

    The Central Bank of Nigeria is also to appear on Thursday before the committee.