House of Representatives to Remove Universities from IPPIS

The House of Representatives in Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment to remove tertiary institutions from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). This move is aimed at improving the welfare of lecturers and curbing the brain drain syndrome. The announcement was made by Dr. Abbas Tajudeen, Speaker of the House of Representatives, at the 3rd International Conference of the Gender Policy Unit at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria on Thursday.

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Dr. Tajudeen, represented by Dr. Abubakar Fulata, House Committee Chairman on Education, described IPPIS as a single-minded computer program that is anti-intellectual, anti-education, and ignorant of the issues involved. He expressed the House’s determination to ensure that universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education are removed from IPPIS.

The Speaker also emphasized the House’s commitment to ensuring that education receives a substantial portion of the national budget, at least to meet up with the United Nations requirement of 26 per cent of the National budget. He lamented that the current system had downgraded education in the country to a level where teachers’ survival was put at risk.

During an engagement with vice-chancellors across the country, it was revealed that a professor’s take-home pay after deduction was less than N450,000. The Speaker described this salary for university professors as embarrassing to the education sector.

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Dr. Tajudeen, who was also a recipient of the Award of Excellence in the fight against poverty, gender inequality, and insecurity at the conference, stated that combating these issues was not just a moral imperative but a fundamental necessity for the nation’s progress and prosperity.

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The conference, jointly organized by the Gender Policy Unit of ABU and the Center for Gender Studies of Bayero University, Kano, was themed ‘Gender and Security in Africa: the Implications for Sustainable Development Goals’. It provided an opportunity for professionals in academia, security, and other stakeholders to engage in critical discourse on the implications of insecurity to the SDG goals.