President Muhammadu Buhari says only federal workers that have been captured by the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) platform will continue to receive salaries.

Buhari said this when he presented the 2021 budget of N13.08trillion to the joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), currently on industrial action, has vowed never to key into the IPPIS platform, as demanded by the government.

NAN reports that ASUU had since claimed to have developed an alternative salary platform for University workers.

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ASUU National President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, said that the union’s ongoing strike would continue in spite of government’s decision to reopen schools shut down due to COVID-19 pandemic.

“We started our industrial action before the outbreak of coronavirus disease in the country.

“All the issues we raised are yet to be addressed. The government is free to open its schools, just like our members are also entitled to their dues.

“As we speak, our members are being owed between three to six months of salaries. The government’s so-called fund saving platform, the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System is a colossal failure.

“Apart from that, the government is yet to take any step to revitalise the education sector among others,” he said.

However, Buhari, who insisted that all federal workers must enrol into the IPPIS platform, said the directive was meant to check fraud including payment of salaries to non-existent personnel as well unauthorised allowances.

Buhari also directed all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure that they obtain necessary approvals before embarking on fresh recruitment.

He warned that any breach of the directive would be severely sanctioned.

Buhari said that the Ministry of Education’s capital allocation had been increased by 65 per cent to improve the education of Nigerian children.

The president revealed that funds had been provided for the provision of scholarship to Nigerian students at home and abroad.

“We have provided funds for the upgrade of security and other infrastructure facilities in our Unity Colleges nationwide.

“To improve access to education, we have made provision for the establishment of five new Federal Science and Technical Colleges.

“We have also provided for the payment of allowances to 5,000 teachers under the Federal Teachers Scheme,’’ he added. (NAN)