NASU, SSANU AE-FUNAI EMBARK ON 3 DAY PROTEST AGAINST IPPIS, NON PAYMENT OF MINIMUM WAGE ARREARS …

Reporter : AMECHI ODO

Non Academic Staff of Alex Ekwueme Federal University (AE-FUNI) Ndufu Alike Ikwo in Ebonyi State have embarked on three day protest against non payment of their minimum wage arrears and earned allowance by the Federal Government.

The workers who marched round the university premises with placards also called on the Federal Government to withdraw them from Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) or face industrial action.

The workers, who operate under the aegis of Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, (SSANU) and Non Academic Staff Union, (NASU) carried placards with inscriptions: “IPPIS Must go,” “pay us hazard and earned allowances” and “Federal Government honour 2009 agreement.”

Addressing journalists, the Chairman of Joint Action Committee of the Unions, Comrade Emmanuel Chigbata, explained that irregularities in the IPPIS salary payment had subjected many of them to untold hardship.

He noted that they were also protesting against non payment of retirement benefits to their former members and called on the Federal Government to review the twenty five percent sharing formula for the forty billion Naira earned allowance it released recently.

The Chairman of NASU, Comrade Chibuike Igwe, urged the Federal Government to respect agreement it reached with the Unions, noting that their challenges had been compounded by the inconsistencies in IPPIS payment platform.

The Deputy Registrar of the University, Dr. Adaoparaocha Chijindu, attributed industrial crisis in the nation’s Universities to government’s insensitivity and called for urgent response to their demands to avert another round of strike.

Other workers, who spoke on the matter, said they would not back down on their demands until Federal Government drops IPPIS and adopts UGPPP as their preferred salary payment platform.