The leadership of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has applauded the federal government over its decision to exempt tertiary institutions from the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) payment platform.
The student body also commended the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for its resilience and tenacity in the struggle that has led to eventual removal of universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and other tertiary institutions from IPPIS.
Recall that the Federal Executive Council presided by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had Wednesday approved the exemption of tertiary institutions from IPPIS in response to strident demand by ASUU and other staff unions of the institutions for them to be exempted from federal government payment platform because of inherent peculiarities.
The minister of education, Professor Tahir Mamman, who conveyed the decision of the FEC after its weekly meeting on Wednesday, said the vice-chancellors and other heads of the affected institutions have gotten relief to embark on recruitment exercise without recourse to the Head of Service of the Federation.
The minister said the president had directed that the vice chancellors be taken out of the platform that made recruitment difficult to ensure efficient management of these education institutions.
Mamman said: “Simply, the president and the council are just concerned about efficiency of management of the universities and so it has nothing to do with integrity or options of platforms.”
NANS president, Comrade Lucky Emonefe, in a statement he personally signed and made available to newsmen yesterday in Abuja, said the laudable decision of the government was a big relief to tertiary institutions in the country.
Emonefe said apart from ensuring efficient management of tertiary institutions, the removal of universities from IPPIS platform would go a long way in addressing one of the root causes of incessant strike actions by ASUU and its debilitating effects on students in Nigeria.
He noted that the genuine agitation by ASUU for the government to exempt universities from IPPIS payment platform overtime, had been unnecessarily resisted by government officials in defiance to the universities autonomy and laws establishing the institutions.
