The Academic Staff Union of Universities has said lecturers in seven federal universities have not received their February and March 2020 salaries, despite a directive by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), to clear the withheld salaries.

The ASUU President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, stated this in an interview with our correspondent. He noted that the union believed that such anomaly was part of the fallouts of the use of controversial Integrated Payment and Personnel Information System platform to pay the withheld salaries of university lecturers.

He identified the affected universities as the University of Jos, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi; Federal University, Dutse; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Maiduguri; Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; and the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.

In an exclusive report by The PUNCH on Friday, Ogunyemi had said the government deployed the IPPIS to pay university lecturers without capturing their biometrics and other information.

ASUU argued that such a step by the Federal Government confirmed its suspicion that the IPPIS was fraudulent and unfit for the university system and urged the authorities to consider its alternative – the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.

The union noted that if lecturers who did not register on the IPPIS were paid through the system, it meant that anyone could be imported into the platform.

Ogunyemi said, “When we talked about the inconsistency in the IPPIS, it also means that lecturers in seven federal universities were not paid their salaries and they are not happy about it. This was confirmed by our members.

“The universities are the University of Jos; Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi; Federal University, Dutse; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Maiduguri; Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka; and the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.