Aloysius Attah and Obinna Odogwu, Awka

President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday clarified that the much talked Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) which has brought industrial dispute between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is not intended to trample upon university autonomy.

Delivering the Visitors Address during the 14th Convocation ceremony of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, President Buhari, represented by the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Rasheed Gbadamosi, said the present contention of IPPIS issue by ASUU is needless because it was not designed to subsume the University into the Civil Service.

He said the primary intention of IPPIS is to enhance greater efficiency, transparency and better management of university finances.

“This should be an important moral pillar of all universities where students are graduated based on character and learning. All universities must be committed to these cherished values if they are to serve as moral compasses to the larger society” he said.

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President Buhari also said the Federal Government remains ever committed to tackling the conundrum of youth unemployment through its various intervention programmes: N-Power, the Bank of Industry’s Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) programme, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bank of Agriculture Support Schemes.

He reiterated the resolve of the government to continue to place a high premium on education since according to him, the human resource, if properly equipped with relevant knowledge and skills is the greatest asset of any society and the linch-pin on which socio-economic development could be put.

He also urged all stakeholders in the affairs of the university to give the Vice Chancellor and his team the needed support noting that the Federal Government would continue to provide the necessary enabling environment for the university to flourish as a credible centre of learning in Nigeria.

Earlier, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Charles Esimone, in an address while congratulating the graduands for the 2018/2019 academic year said he remains committed in his vision towards making Nnamdi Azikiwe University the best in Nigeria, among the top ten in Africa and among the best 200 universities in the world.