The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has granted universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and other tertiary institutions long-awaited exemption from the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
This move, announced by Minister of Education Professor Tahir Maman, grants these institutions greater autonomy and control over their own personnel matters.
The new policy will allow university Vice Chancellors to conduct recruitment exercises without seeking approval from the Head of Service, significantly streamlining the process.
According to Professor Maman, President Tinubu, who chaired the FEC meeting, emphasised the importance of efficiency and autonomy for higher education institutions. He expressed dissatisfaction with the reliance on IPPIS for recruitment, which often proved cumbersome and bureaucratic.
Mamman said: “Simply, the president and the council is just concerned about efficiency of management of the universities and so it has nothing to do with integrity or options of platforms.
“The president cannot understand why Vice Chancellors should be leaving their duty post and run to Abuja to get staff enlisted on IPPIS when they get recruited.
“The basic concern is that universities are governed by laws. And those laws give them autonomy in certain respects and most respects and the IPPIS has sort of eroded that autonomy granted universities in accordance with their act.”
The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammed Idris, echoed these sentiments, stating that universities and other tertiary institutions had long clamoured for exemption from IPPIS. He hailed the FEC’s decision as a “big relief”.
He said, “Today, the universities and other tertiary institutions have gotten a very big relief from the integrated personnel payroll and information system. You will recall that the university authorities and the others have been clamouring for the exemption of the universities and other tertiary institutions from this system.
“Today, council has graciously approved that. What that means is that going forward, the universities like the Honorable Minister of Education has said and other tertiary institutions, the polytechnics and colleges of education will be taken off the IPPIS.
“What that means in simple language is that the university authorities and other tertiary institutions will now be paying their own personnel from their own end instead of relying on the IPPIS.”
