David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka
President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to striking Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to accept the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS), insisting that it won’t undermine the autonomy of the university system.
Buhari, who spoke thursday in his address at the 14th convocation ceremonies of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, described ASUU’s protest against the payment system as “needless”.
Represented by the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, Buhari said IPPIS was not meant to diminish the university autonomy.
“I should not end this address without touching on IPPIS, which has been a bone of contention, and a needless one at that, between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
“I assure you all that the IPPIS is not intended to trample upon university autonomy nor is it designed to subsume the university into the civil service.
“The primary intention of IPPIS is to enhance greater efficiency, transparency and better management of university finances. And this should be an important moral pillar of all universities where students are graduated based on character and learning.
“All universities must be committed to these cherished values if they are to serve as a moral compass to the larger society.”
