IPPIS not in charge of payment of workers’ salaries, Director tells Reps

By Bayo Davids
The Director coordinating the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System, Emma Deko has said the department is not responsible for the payment of workers’ salaries but is only in charge of processing payments.
Deko who stated this on Tuesday at the resume hearing of the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating non remittance of deductions from workers’ salaries for the National House Fund, stressed that quite often, deductions are not remitted owing to shortage of cash backing of approvals for wages.
This is just as he noted that at times, the department gets directives on net salaries while the gross is kept in view owing largely to shortage of funds.
He noted that while IPPIS process the salaries for only federal workers, four gateways are appointed by government to execute salaries’ payment.
The gateways according to Deko include Nigeria Interbank Payment System, E-Transact, Remita and GIFMIS.
He said, “It made us to understand that it is not all deductions that were remitted, and it is not the fault of IPPIS. IPPIS is meant to deduct and remit. And that brings me to the point that, remittance, payment of salaries is not done in IPPIS, we only process.
“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 Ministries, Departments and Agencies. We cannot provide the names of the beneficiaries.
“We cannot talk about evidence of remittances 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 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 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 would be 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 IPPIS’ Director on 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 had already been paying net. And I also went through the records and discovered that, there were instances like that in the past.”
That said, Deko came close to chiding the Central Bank of Nigeria for failing to provide statements on remittances to the IPPIS, saying, “When these remittances are done, the CBN is supposed to get us statements. Sometimes when they give you statements; may be payment was made to hundred people, they will give you a figure of  say N10 billion and you ask for the breakdown to do reconciliation as an accountant. But as we speak, it is difficult. It is not only in IPPIS, but also in all the accounting cadres.
“We have been facing this problem, we cannot reconcile our accounts because they give you bulk figure, and with those figures you cannot reconcile. I am sure my colleagues from the Auditor General’s Office are aware of this. So, this is our constrain.
Meanwhile, the committee has summoned the Accountant General of the Federation, Mrs Oluwatoyin Madein, Central Bank of Nigeria and the four payment gateways to appear before it on Thursday to explain the delays in remitting deductions from workers’ salaries to the Federal Mortgage Bank.