We are determined to remove tertiary institutions from IPPIS — Speaker Abbas

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon.Tajudeen Abbas has stated the National Assembly is determined to remove tertiary institutions from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), to enhance lecturers’ welfare and reduce the brain drain syndrome.

Describing the IPPIS as a single minded computer programme that is anti-intellectual, anti-education and completely ignorant of the issues involved, Abbas said the House would pursue the interest of academia and one of those issues in contention was the issue of IPPIS.

The Speaker made this known on Thursday in Zaria at the 3rd International conference of the Gender Policy Unit, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria and he was represented by House Committee Chairman on Education,   Dr. Abubakar Fulata.

According to the Speaker, he said, “It is our determination to ensure that universities, polytechnics and colleges of education are removed from IPPIS.”

“It is also our determination to make sure that education receives a substantial portion in the national budget at least to meet up with the United Nations requirement of 26 per cent of the National budget.”

He said the National Assembly had an engagement with the vice-chancellors across the country, and they were made to understand that a professor’s take-home after deduction was less than N450,000.

The Speaker described such a salary (N450, 000) for the university professors as embarrassing to the education sector.

He said fighting poverty, gender inequality and insecurity was not merely a moral imperative but a fundamental necessity for the progress and prosperity of the nation.

Abbas was also a recipient of the Award of Excellence in the fight against poverty, gender inequality and insecurity at the conference.

Also speaking, Prof. Kabiru Bala, Vice-Chancellor, ABU, said the conference was another step towards realising the ABU’s aspiration of becoming a world-class academic and research institution.

Bala was represented by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Administration, Prof. Ahmed Doko.

He said the conference provides an opportunity for professionals in academia, security, and other stakeholders to engage in critical discourse on implications of insecurity to the SDG goals.

The conference was jointly organised  by the Gender Policy Unit of the ABU and Center for Gender Studies of Bayero University, Kano.