Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) UNIBEN chapter has reiterated its rejection of Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and vowed no amount of threat or blackmail will make it change its stands.
It made the vow in support of the decision taken at the end of a national executive council (NEC) meeting held a few days earlier.
In a statement by M. J. Omoregie (chairperson) and F. C. Amaechina (Secretary), the UNIBEN ASUU said it was appalled “by the continuing charade of the Office Accountant General of the Federation(OAGF) aimed at forcibly implementing the IPPIS in federal universities.
“We have equally come to the conclusion that it is the Federal Government’s (FG) ploy to renege on its agreement with our union in furtherance of its intent on abdicating its duty and responsibility to adequately fund education.
“In particular, we note that government is scheming to abandon the long-overdue renegotiation of the ASUU-FG 2009 Agreement and also avoid fully honouring the February 2019 Memorandum of Action (MoA) it freely signed with ASUU.
“And, for the umpteenth time, we restate our rejection of IPPIS and vow that no amount of threat or blackmail will sway our resolve.”
Based on this, ASUU UNIBEN resolved that its position that members should not enrol into IPPIS stands and is reaffirmed by the congress.
Also, it unanimously aligned itself with the NEC declaration to call out its members on a nationwide strike if any member of the union is victimised for refusal to enrol into the IPPIS platform in the spirit of ‘an injury to one is an injury to all’.
The union said it identifies with ASUU NEC’s decision to engage the Federal Government on the outstanding issues of the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement and the February 2019 MoA and resolved to comply fully if ASUU is compelled to declare a nationwide strike should the Federal Government renege on the full implementation of any aspect of both the agreement and the MoA.
It further called on all and sundry to join forces with ASUU “to salvage this nation from the stranglehold of this regime of insensitive leadership.”