Nigeria announces date to begin enrolment of military personnel on IPPIS

The federal government has concluded arrangements to begin the enrolment of all military personnel on the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), scheme from July 30.

Ahmed Idris, the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF), disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday at a sensitisation programme for the enrolment of the Nigerian military on the scheme.

Represented by Usman Kudu, Director, Funds, Mr Idris said the exercise was to create sufficient awareness among military personnel on their roles and objectives toward ensuring successful enrollment and implementation of IPPIS.

“This occasion is also to provide an opportunity to disabuse your mind of any erroneous impression about this laudable project.

“I will like to assure the military that the officials to be engaged in this enrolment exercise will be officers of high integrity from the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), to ensure data security and confidentiality.”

Mr Idris said that a joint committee on the enrolment of the Nigerian military in IPPIS was inaugurated on March 28 and it had succeeded in fashioning out modalities and timelines for the exercise.

He said that the objectives of the scheme were centralisation of the database of all federal public servants, eradication of ghost workers and removal of wastages.

He added that the system enhanced maintenance of the integrity, security of data and easy retrieval of personnel records.

“The benefits emanating from this implementation have been enormous since, as we speak, all emoluments are timely processed and payments easily made.

“Deductions to co-operatives and other third-party stakeholders are duly and timely remitted.

“Substantial savings have been made by blocking leakages that had hitherto caused serious financial strains on the public purse,” he said.

Adeleke Adekoya, Chief of Army Finance Corps, said the Federal Executive Council in 2016 instructed all military to enrol on the system.

He gave an assurance that the military would cooperate with the OAGF to ensure compliance and a hitch-free exercise.

During the question and answer session, participants relayed their fears about perceived issues the enrolment would present.

They recalled that personnel of Nigeria Police Force had incomplete salaries when they were enrolled and sought assurance that theirs would not be like that.

The participants were taken through a step by step approach on enrollment and given assurance that only statutory deductions, such as tax for officers and 2.5 per cent of basic salary for National Housing Fund (NHF), would be made on their salaries.

IPPIS, which began with seven Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), in 2007, is one of the Federal Government’s public finance reforms aimed at determining the actual strength of its workers and help with budgeting and annual planning.