Uncoordinated migration of IPPIS, cause of salary crisis in tertiary institutions — Accountant General

Uncoordinated migration of Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information Systems, IPPIS, to the Government Integrated Financial System, GIFMIS, was responsible for salary crisis in tertiary institutions, the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamselden Ogunjimi has said.

The AGF stated this on Monday in Abuja at an interactive session with vice-chancellors, rectors, provosts, and heads of regulatory bodies, stressing that the migration failed to follow established technical guidelines, resulting in delayed salary payments, irregular third-party deductions, and unremitted pension contributions.

“Failure to comply with the recommendation to prepare a trial payroll for the remaining two months (November and December) of the year 2024, along with IPPIS and the abrupt migration to GIFMIS in the last quarter of the year, heightened some of the challenges experienced,” he said.

He revealed that complaints of failed payments and deductions was what he got from Pension Administrators, State tax authorities, microcredit firms and University unions immediately he assumed office in March this year, adding, “an Interministerial Technical Committee had proposed a phased transition process.”

According to him, the committee advised that the October 2024 payroll should be executed on IPPIS, with staff data validated and uploaded onto GIFMIS by the end of October.

According to him, the Committee recommended trial payroll runs for November and December to be supervised by IPPIS and processed on GIFMIS before a full handover on December 31, 2024, stating that the crisis was due to failed implementation of the recommendations.

Ogunjimi further noted that his office had held consultations with university bursars and approved a joint training initiative with the Association of Bursars of Nigerian Universities to support institutions struggling with the new system.

“Despite all these steps, I still receive catalogues of complaints from the institutions,” he said. He added that the meeting was convened to address the concerns collectively and that feedback from the session would shape upcoming training programmes.