ASUU strike: Beyond IPPIS

No Nigerian head of state has ever extended even a small handshake to a first class graduate at a convocation ceremony on a university campus in Nigeria. Is it not a thing of honour and glory to make a first class degree in the university? Nigerian leaders develop the leg and not the brain. They fund campaign rallies and other jamborees not education.

Let’s move to the current but thorny issue: the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System. The first, and by far, the most worrisome aspect of the IPPIS is the fact that it is a blatant violation of the concept of university autonomy. University autonomy is a global practice associated with universities all over the world and it has four main dimensions namely: academic, 
organizational, financial and staff autonomy. 

The concept of financial University autonomy, for example, empowers Universities to decide freely on internal financial matters like managing its funds independently and setting its strategic aims and all the agreements signed between ASUU and the Federal Government since 1992 have given Nigerian universities the powers to operate in compliance with their enabling laws, statutes and regulations. By 
threatening to coerce ASUU to join the IPPIS, the Federal Government is not only violating the agreement it is also demonstrating that it has no sense of honour. 

This is as much as to say that the government has ignited the present crisis in the university system by resorting to a show of force to compel ASUU to join the IPPIS. This is a clear example of coercion and intimidation which is not only preposterous but also devoid of honour.