The director, Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) Emma Deko has said officials of the system were not responsible for the payment of salaries of workers, but only process it.
Deko stated this 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 (NHF)
He said in most cases, deductions from workers are not remitted because of shortage of cash backing for approvals for wages, and sometimes, they get directive to only pay the net of the workers’ salaries, while the gross is kept in view because of shortages.
Deko said, 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, namely Nigeria Interbank Payment System (NIPS), E-Transact, Remita and GIFMIS.
He said, “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 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.
“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.
“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 are 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.”
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