AGF Attributes Tertiary Institutions Salary Crisis to Uncoordinated IPPIS-GIFMIS Migration
By Patience Ikpeme
The Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, has identified the hasty and uncoordinated transition from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) as the cause of ongoing salary payment challenges in federal tertiary institutions.
Mr. Ogunjimi spoke on Monday in Abuja during a one-day interactive meeting with vice-chancellors, rectors, provosts, and regulatory bodies of federal tertiary institutions, focusing on payroll processing and payments.
The AGF acknowledged that non-compliance with technical transition guidelines led to disruptions in salary payments, third-party deductions, and pension remittances. These issues, he stated, have generated numerous complaints from across the education sector.
Since taking office in March 2025, Ogunjimi noted that he has received a multitude of complaints from Pension Fund Administrators, State Internal Revenue Services, microcredit organizations, and trade unions regarding non-remittance of statutory deductions and payment delays.
He explained that an Interministerial Technical Committee had been previously established to develop a seamless migration framework. According to him, the committee’s report recommended that the October 2024 payroll be executed using the IPPIS platform.
The report also advised that tertiary institution staff accounts be validated and uploaded to the GIFMIS platform by October 31, 2024, and that relevant personnel within the institutions be granted access to the personnel line on GIFMIS by the same date. October 31, 2024, was set as the final date for enrollment and all payroll-related activities on the IPPIS platform.
Furthermore, the committee proposed that trial payrolls for November and December be prepared and checked by IPPIS but paid through GIFMIS, with a final sign-off from IPPIS to occur by December 31, 2024. The committee also called on the Federal Government to settle all outstanding liabilities, including salary arrears, promotion benefits, and third-party deductions, and urged institutions to comply with existing rules and regulations.
“Failure to comply with the recommendation to prepare a trial payroll for the remaining two (2) months (November and December) of the year 2024 along with IPPIS and the abrupt migration to GIFMIS in the last quarter of the year heightened some of the challenges experienced,” Ogunjimi said.
To address the fallout from these issues, Ogunjimi revealed that his office has held multiple meetings with stakeholders, including bursars. It has also approved a collaborative training programme with the Association of Bursars of Nigerian Universities to support institutions navigating GIFMIS-related issues.
“Despite all these steps, I still receive catalogs of complaints from the institutions,” the AGF stated. He added that this meeting was therefore organized to bring all stakeholders together to collectively address all associated outstanding issues. Ogunjimi stated that feedback from the meeting will inform the development of the training course content and urged all institutions to fully participate in the program when scheduled.
Delivering a goodwill message, the Auditor-General for the Federation, Dr. Shaakaa Chira, commended the AGF for initiating the dialogue. He described it as timely and strategic in addressing some of the most critical issues confronting public financial management in educational institutions. Chira listed recurring problems such as overpayment of salaries, irregular employment, non-remittance of statutory deductions, violation of payroll integration procedures, and unauthorized allowances.
“The prevalence of these issues often results in audit queries, surcharges, loss of public funds, and in some instances, reputational damage to the affected institutions,” he warned. The Auditor-General also stated the necessity for institutions to frankly present operational concerns such as IPPIS integration delays, misclassification of deductions, and third-party remittance timelines. He also pledged his office’s readiness to work closely with the OAGF, regulatory agencies, and institutions to promote systems improvement and enhanced service delivery, while encouraging institutions to support reforms that reflect the complexities of Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.
