The Director in-Charge of the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) Mr. Emma James Deko stated on Tuesday that the IPPIS is not responsible for the payment of salaries or workers, but only process payments.
Deko who spoke at the resumed hearing of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating alleged non-remittance of deductions from workers salaries for the National House Fund (NHF) also said that in most cases, deductions from workers were not remitted because of shortage of cash backing approvals for wages.
He also said that sometimes, they get directives on only the net of the workers salaries, while the gross is kept in view because of shortage of funds.
According to him, while IPPIS prepare the salaries for only federal workers, the government appointed four gateways that are responsible for the payment of the salaries to workers.
He gave the names of the gateways which he said are not situated within the IPPIS as Nigeria Interbank Payment System (NIPS), E-Transact, Remita and GIFMIS.
He said: “So, like I said, IPPIS is not in charge of every employee of the federal government. IPPIS is only covering the executive arm. So, what I am trying to say is that, IPPIS is not in charge of every employee of government.
“Having said that, let me go back to the requirements from IPPIS. The first one is evidence of remittance by all stakeholders and unremitted so far by the MDAs. The last part of it, the names of beneficiaries, I don’t think IPPIS can provide that because we don’t give to beneficiaries.
“We cannot talk about evidence of remittance without deductions, because it is only when you deduct that you can remit. I must be sincere that, we have been trying to collate this information because it relates as far back as 2011 to date, based on the request of this Honourable committee.
“We have been on it, but we have one constraint and that constraint is the fact that after deductions, we remit and the we are to pay salaries.
“There are instances where the cash backing may not cover the entire salary wage bill for a particular month., and in that instance, we are advised, we are directed to pay only the net, which means that, all deductions will be stepped down.
“I want to put it on record that I became the director IPPIS in February 2023, and when I came in, I was told and I also observed from records that, from December 2022 to the point I was joining, they’ve already been paying net. And I also went through the records and discovered that, there were instances like that in the past.
“There are four payment gateways engaged by government to do the payment. Nigeria Interbank Payment System (NIPS), E-Transact, Remita and GIFMIS. These are not situated within IPPIS. We only process and they have the gateway to remit these monies”.
However, the committee summoned the Accountant General of the Federation to appear before it on Thursday to explain the delays in remitting deductions from workers’ salaries to the Federal Mortgage Bank.
The Central Bank of Nigeria is also to appear on Thursday before the committee.
