Integrated payment system saved N361bn despite opposition, says FG

The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation on Sunday said the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System had saved over N361bn for the Federal Government despite opposition and sabotage from some quarters.

Created in 2007, the IPPIS secretariat is a department under the OAGF responsible for payment of salaries and wages directly to government employees’ bank accounts with appropriate deductions and remittances of third-party payments such as taxes and health insurance.

There were reports that the April 2020 salaries of Nigerian Armed Forces personnel were delayed as a result of “incapability and inexperience” of the operators of the IPPIS.

However, the OAGF refuted the reports in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja on Sunday.

The statement, signed by Director, Information, Press and Public Relations, Mr Henshaw Ogubike, said the delay was caused by the lockdown ordered by the Federal Government to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

The lockdown “led to late submission of variations by the agencies concerned and the need to accommodate their input in the April payroll accordingly”, the OAGF said.

Faulting the reports, the statement said, “Suffice it to state that the staff of the OAGF and the IPPIS are competent professionals who have demonstrated the will and capacity to get the job done in line with the presidential directives, despite distractions and opposition from some quarters whose objective is to sabotage the government policy that has saved the nation over N361bn.”

The OAGF, in the statement, disclosed that the Federal Government had completed the payment of the April 2020 salaries of Armed Forces personnel in the country.

According to the statement, the IPPIS department in the OAGF confirmed that as of May 8, 2020, the Armed Forces personnel had been paid.

“According to the IPPIS office, the delay in the salary payment was due to the unexpected lockdown in the country.

“This explanation became necessary in view of a report which alleged that the April 2020 salaries of military and paramilitary personnel were delayed as a result of incapability and inexperience of the operators of the IPPIS.

“As mentioned in the report, officials of the IPPIS had given assurances that the salaries would be paid between 4th and 8th May.

“This was promptly carried out as noted earlier,” the statement said.

The OAGF claimed that the said report was a deliberate attempt to misinform and mislead the public with a view to achieving an unholy objective.

“Such report has the potency to incite the Armed Forces and the general public against the operations of the IPPIS,” the statement said.