Shortfalls, delays and irregular payment of salaries will soon be a thing of the past in federal colleges of education as the Federal Government hooks them to the Integrated Personnel and Pay System (IPPS) to ensure prompt and regular payment of their staff.
The Army, Unity Schools and federal civil servants are already hooked to and enjoying the benefits of the scheme, which ensures that computation and payment of wages, allowances and other emoluments are done centrally in Abuja, instead of locally in the respective institutions.
Also, the workers may have backlog of arrears of allowances and accrued promotion increment paid, with the improvement in the funding profile of these colleges by the government.
Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education, Prof. Aliu Mohammed Bappah, dropped these hints at the Federal College of Education (Special), Oyo, Oyo State, where he made a whistle stop visit in his ongoing nation-wide tour of the colleges during the week.
The NCCE boss said the frustrations with the current payment system would be a thing of the past, as the government had made adequate provision in this year’s budget to ensure the workers received 100 per cent of their salaries as and when due.
“The Federal Government is making effort to ensure that at least salaries are paid 100 per cent. Have you seen the budget, it is there. Prof Bappah said government was also striving to improve the stock of educational facilities and infrastructure not only in the federal colleges, but also state –owned ones through the interventions of the Tertiary Educational Trust Fund (TETFUND).
The NCCE Executive Secretary, who commissioned a TETFUND -sponsored ICT/Media centre in the college, commended the SPED management team, led by the provost, Prof. Usman Olayiwola, saying from his interaction with the management “they seem to be on course.”