Accountant-General gives reasons for delayed April salaries | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
11th May 2020
The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has given reasons for the delayed payment of federal workers’ April salaries.
It alleged that some individuals are determined to sabotage the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
According to the office, IPPIS may have saved government about ₦361 billion that could have been paid to corrupt civil servants.
Recall that lecturers in federal universities were paid their withheld February and March salaries over the weekend through the IPPIS, which the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had earlier rejected.
As at the time of filing this report, that of April also has not been paid even as the office calcined otherwise.
The OAGF in a statement reacting to reports that it had paid Armed Forces their April, 2020 salaries.
According to the OAGF: “The Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) Department in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation confirmed that as at Friday 8th May, 2020, the Armed Forces personnel had been paid.”
The OAGF said the delay “in the salary payment was due to the unexpected lockdown in the country which led to late submission of variations by the Agencies concerned and the need to accommodate their inputs in the April payroll accordingly.”
It was alleged that the April 2020 salaries of military and paramilitary personnel was delayed “as a result of incapability and inexperience of the operators of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).”
However, “officials of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) had given assurance that the salaries would be paid between 4th and 8th May, 2020” before the allegations became public.
The OAGF lamented that “such report has the potency to incite the Armed Forces and the general public against the operations of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).”
It added that “staff of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) and the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) are competent professionals who have demonstrated the will and capacity to get the job done.
This the OAGF noted that is “despite distractions and opposition from some quarters whose objectives is to sabotage the government policy that has saved the nation over N361 billion.”