COEASU braces up for showdown with Fed Govt over IPPIS, others

By Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) is poised for a showdown with the Federal Government over the government’s refusal to effect third-party deductions in most colleges of education (COEs).

The union is also heading for a fight with the government over what it called the imposition of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) on the COE system, which “bedevilled the payment of emoluments of workers with anomalies, infractions and deprivations”.

COEASU had given the government a 21-day ultimatum over the pending issues.

The union’s President Nuhu Ogirima asked the government to address the issues within three weeks or face a nationwide strike. Ogirima said the government had failed to address the plight of public colleges’ system one year after sending a memorandum detailing the deplorable state of the institutions.

According to him, most state governments have toed the line of the Federal Government in handling the affairs of their public COEs. Ogirima recalled that in August, 2019, the union transmitted a memorandum, requesting President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in addressing the plight of the public COEs system.