Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) said that the introduction of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS) by the federal government has mutilated their salaries and made them poorer.
The National President of SSANU, Mohammed Haruna Ibrahim, during the weekend, stated this at the maiden North-East Zonal Executive Meeting and Workshop in Bauchi, with the theme: “Team Building for Effective Service Delivery and Strategic Position for Influencing the Influencer”.
He said: “The major crux is that our 2009 agreement; that somersaulted agreement; that agreement that was not done with some level of preparedness has given us so much problems as members of SSANU.
“Our members are suffering, our members are relegated in terms of welfare but we are not deterred. Although we have not arrived, we are still in the process to get our dues.
“Individually at our different levels in our universities, some of us as branch leaders have been able to convince our councils and Management to understand that hazard is hazard. Everybody is facing hazards in Nigeria, members of SSANU are facing hazards.
“We started benefitting from this (hazard) allowances and then the almighty IPPIS came, and we crash landed. Our salaries have been mutilated, our salaries have been fractured and today, we are poorer.”
In his speech, the Union’s Vice President, North-East, Audu Isah, lamented the state of insecurity in the country and called on the members to contribute their quota towards finding lasting solutions to the problems rather than compounding them through their utterances, actions and write-ups.
“We all know that our country is passing through difficult times at the moment. Issues of banditry, insurgency, communal clashes and all other crime and criminalities across the country have all combined to put us at the precipice.
“As leaders, I appeal to us to remain calm in the face of these trying times. We must conduct ourselves as responsible leaders at all times in our write-ups, utterances and actions.
“We must be seen to be agents of unity and progress and should not allow ourselves to be used to destabilize our land, the only country in which God, in His mercies, has placed us.
“We all are stakeholders in the project called Nigeria. We should take a stand to talk less, listen more and join hands with our compatriots all over the country as we work together towards finding lasting solutions to our challenges as a country.
“We must continue to contribute our quota to the stability of our country. We must always remember that without peace and stability in our country, we cannot report in our offices, let alone to work and struggle for the welfare and well-being of our members,” he appealed.