Reps invite Ngige, others over face-off with ASUU

Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila has invited the Minister of Labour and Productivity Chris Ngige to appear before the lawmakers over the ongoing face of face-off with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) next week.

This was as the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) reiterated that the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS), the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and the University Peculiar Personnel and Payroll System (U3PS) failed its integrity tests regarding the university payroll, which the agency conducted between March and June.

Also invited were the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; the Head of Civil Service of the Federation; the Accountant General of the Federation; the Director General, Salaries, Income and Wages Commission; and the Director General Budget Office among others.The Speaker invited them on Thursday evening at the resumed meeting aimed at resolving the ongoing strike embarked upon by ASUU.

Gbajabiamila and the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Idris Wase, and other leaders of the House on Thursday met with the Head of Service of the Federation (HoS), Mrs Folashade Yemi-Esan, the chairman of the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, Mr. Ekpo Nta, among other government officials.

The meeting was a follow up to an earlier one the Speaker held with ASUU officials on Tuesday, where issues related to the strike were discussed.

The outcome of Tuesday’s meeting led the House leadership to invite the Head of Service, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission, the Accountant General of the Federation, among others.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) said the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS), the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and the University Peculiar Personnel and Payroll System (U3PS) failed its integrity tests regarding the university payroll, which the agency conducted between March and June this year.

A NITDA official at the meeting, Dr Usman Abdullahi, told the House leadership that the government directed the agency to test UTAS in October, 2020, and that the platform failed the two integrity tests conducted on it.

He said following the first test, ASUU was asked to go back and review, which it did.

He said the platforms did not meet NITDA’s requirements the second time.He said for a third time, NITDA was then asked to conduct tests on UTAS, IPPIS and U3PS and they three platforms failed its requirements regarding the payroll system of universities.

Not satisfied with the explanation, Speaker Gbajabiamila asked if NITDA advised the government to take action on the lapses found on IPPIS, which has been in operation by government since 2011. But the NITDA official said they were not in a position to do that.Gbajabiamila also asked if NITDA queried IPPIS platform, to which the official responded in the negative.

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