There are indications that the federal government may have adopted of its own method, GIFMIS , to pay the salaries of lecturers in federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
This was shown in a letter by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Didi Watson-Jack, to the National Universities Commission, National Board for Technical Education and National Commission for Colleges of Education.
The Government Integrated Financial Management System, (GIFMIS), is an IT-based system for budget management and accounting, initiated by the Federal Government.
The method aims to improve public expenditure management processes and enhance greater accountability and transparency across ministries and agencies.
The adoption follows the Federal Executive Council’s exemption of lecturers in the federal universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and other tertiary institutions of learning from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) in December 2023.
Amidst the heats generated same year from the criticism of IPPIS during the eight-month strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the lecturers had suggested the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) for their payment instead of the IPPIS.
By opting for the GIFMIS, the Federal Government is believed to have discarded UTAS proposed by the lecturers.
According to The PUNCH, Watson-Jack’s March 24,2024 memo, sighted by its correspondent in Abuja on Monday, announced a new set of guidelines intends to purposely guide institutions in financial management following the exit from the IPPIS.
“Institutions are to conduct periodic biometric verification of all its staff. Institutions shall return to the GIFMIS platform for effective and efficient management of financial systems, which is still in use in the institution’s financial operations on overhead, capital and operations cost.
“This requires a prior pre-registration of all employees on the institutions’ payroll on the GIFMIS platform. Relevant schedule officers shall be put in place to manage the GIFMIS system,” the memo states.
The letter directs further that higher institutions’ Governing Councils and management are to assume full responsibility for policy direction and statutory duties of the institution, including recruitment, promotion, disengagement and discipline of staff.
The Governing Councils are also deemed to ensure full compliance with the laws and conditions of service of the institutions and other applicable laws and circulars for effective and efficient governance.
The correspondence also states that “no tertiary institution shall employ any category of staff not provided for in its budget for the particular year.”
Accordingly: “All employment must be based on needs of the institution and to be properly advertised, candidates interviewed and the best employed;
“All newly established tertiary institutions must secure approval for their staffing requirements from their respective regulatory body and the Ministry of Education.
“Any temporary recruitment shall be restricted to only senior lecturers and professorial cadre and should not account for more than five per cent in any given year and such appointment shall not last more than one year.
“Councils and administrators to avoid discriminate and disproportionate employment of staff and shall adhere to NUC’s recommendation of academic to 1:5 of non-academics staff ratio.”
In order to prioritize probity and transparency in the management of funds of the institutions, the federal government also directs “regular auditing and submission of reports to appropriate agencies of government as prescribed by law; and a consequence system would be put in place for the Council and management of any institution that defaults in adherence to these policies, statutory obligations and procedures.”
