Universities in Nigeria Face Challenge as Presidential Directives Go Unimplemented

In a bid to address the ongoing challenge, the House of Representatives has vowed to take necessary steps to rectify the situation. According to Abubakar Fulata, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on University Education, the committee is determined to tackle any issue that may hinder the smooth running of universities across the country.

During a meeting with the conference of Vice Chancellors in Abuja, Mr Fulata noted that President Bola Tinubu had approved the removal of universities and other tertiary institutions from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS). The President also reconstituted the councils and boards for higher institutions and recently approved a 50% subsidy on electricity tariff for hospitals and tertiary institutions.

Despite the presidential directive, universities in Nigeria still rely on the IPPIS platform for recruitment, salary payments, and other administrative tasks. According to Prof Lilian Salami, Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), it takes a vice chancellor about seven minutes to navigate the IPPIS platform before a cleaner can be employed.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) directed that the nation’s university system be expeditiously removed from the IPPIS platform on July 12, following the federal government’s prior approval of the initiative. The new directive is part of the resolutions reached at the council meeting conducted by President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa.

With the House of Representatives promising to take necessary steps to address the challenge, hopes are high that the situation will soon be resolved, allowing universities in Nigeria to focus on their core mandate of providing quality education to students.