Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Federal Government, said on Wednesday, that public universities in Nigeria could best be described as epicenter of academic, financial and administrative fraud, and has been responsible for poor record of academic excellence and amazing research breakthrough.

The Government, however, vowed to purge the public universities system of massive fraud which have taken a heavy toll on the system, in spite of percieved “resistance” from the university based labour unions, particularly the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, told journalists in Abuja, that ASUU’s resistance to the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS), was a pointer that some fraudulent activities have been happening in the system over the years, particularly the payroll system.

Related News

He regretted the fact that ASUU has been feeding the public with false claim and information about IPPIS that has tremendously check payroll fraud in the public service in the country.

He disclosed that about 70 percent of workforce in the 37 Federal Universities have fully enrolled in the IPPIS platform leaving 30 percent of the workers, mostly the ASUU members who have refused to enroll.

“The fraud in the universities is amazing and you will be shocked to know that the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) did a system check recently and the discoveries was shocking. The worst two organisations mentioned were the Teaching Hospitals and public universities,” he said.