The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Abuja branch has called on the federal government to set up a visitation panel to federal universities that would checkmate corruption instead of the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
Chairman of the branch, Dr Kassim Umaru, who stated this during an interview said the union has been agitating for visitation panel but government is rather focusing on IPPIS which is not free from corruption.
According to him, “ASUU is not afraid of IPPIS but we are saying that IPPIS has no solution to peculiarities in the system and the legality of even IPPIS itself. We have never for once supported corruption and that is why we are always with the government. The mediums for you to check mate corruption are clear. Visitation is one of them and we have been agitating for visitation even to the extent that we embarked on struggle as a result of government to bring visitation panel to federal universities and up till today, nothing has been done.”
Umaru added that the union is not against any system that will check mate corruption but is concerned that so many individuals are even parading themselves using the system to get themselves enrolled and you don’t know their ministries. “That is why from the beginning when government said IPPIS has saved amount of over N20 billion we said which ministry, which names and who are these individuals and why these individuals are not prosecuted.
On the reports that some members of the Chapter have sneaked to enroll on the system, Umaru said they are just propaganda to confuse individuals. “To go straight to the point our union members are not enrolling at all. Some of these individuals that they see as an academics you can be a lecturer and you are not a member of our union so there are certain individuals in our university, they are just about 3 to 4 and they are expelled members of the Union as far back as 2013 and these people that went against the Principle and constitution of the Union. So they are not our members, they are being expelled. None of our member has gotten enrolled on this programme, we remain resolute.”
