FG to Decentralise IPPIS, AGF Reveals

Laleye Dipo in Minna

The operations of the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) is to be decentralised, the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Alhaji Ahmed Idris has disclosed.

He said this in Minna Niger State, yesterday.

Idris in a message at the closing of a 3- day nationwide IPPIS Payroll Training for IPPIS Role Players in the Federal Capital Territory, said the decentralisation of the scheme would ensure efficiency and improve service delivery.

Represented by the Director IPPIS in the Accountant General’s Office, Dr. Ben Nsikak, Idris stressed that the decentralisation would remove challenge of some stakeholders traveling to Abuja to solve one problem or the other.

“The decentralisation is to ensure that people, role players and the MDAs are able to carry out updates and variations at the backend without necessarily coming to Abuja,” the Accountant General further explained.

He, however, warned that, checks and balances have been introduced to ensure the decentralisation was not compromised, saying that internal auditors in the respective MDAs were expected to review the updates that have been done while accounting officers, “who have responsibility over human materials and financial resources of the establishments are also expected to sign up and take responsibility for whatever update that has been done.”

Idris disclosed that the IPPIS which started in 2007, with the enrolment of only seven MDAs has now enrolled 711 of the agencies.

On the shortfall being recorded in the payment of workers’ salaries, Idris said the problem has reduced drastically, noting that, “only few MDAs have shortfalls compared to what we have last year.”

He disclosed that the office of the Head of Service of the Federation has cleaned up the human resource module in the programme while his office was already carrying out similar exercise for the salary payment module.

He described the training programme which attracted over 400 participants, as imperative and part of the business reengineering process government had to do to drive the scheme to more success.

In an address, Niger State Governor, Abubakar Sani Bello, disclosed that the state would partner the federal government on the implementation of IPPIS in the state.

Bello whose address was read by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Ahmed Matane said the adoption of IPPIS in the state would minimise corruption and its tendencies in the salary payment system.

He decried the continuous increase in the allocation for workers’ salaries, despite the numbers of retirements and death of workers recorded in the system.