Civil servants decry arbitrary deductions from their salaries by IPPIS

Some federal civil servants in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have decried the continued arbitrary deductions from their salaries by the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) for no reason.

They expressed their grievances over the irregularities in salary payment in separate interviews with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday, describing it as fraud.

Some said the deductions were alien to them as they were not aware of any reasons why their salaries should be deducted.

Mr Livinus Ugochukwu, a former employee of NAN said that in August 2018, IPPIS deducted N10,158.33 from his salary and credited Full Range Micro-Finance company, an organisation he did not know.

Ugochukwu said IPPIS also deducted N8,784 from his salary in May and credited Brain Integrated System, another organisation he did not know.

Another public sector worker, Mrs Hadiza Aliyu, said she received a text message from CreditWallet, a micro-credit company, telling her that she had been pre-qualified for N500,000 loan.

On enquiry about how the loan would be re-paid, a desk officer with the company said the group was working with IPPIS.

Similarly, Mr Monday Ogbuoka, a civil servant with the Ministry of Information complained that he noticed the irregularities in his salary for three consecutive times.

Ogbuoka said that N20,000 was deducted from his salary by IPPIS without any explanation.

He said that he decided to investigate why the deduction was made and discovered that an official of IPPIS had connived with a business company to make the deduction even when he did not buy anything from the company.

Another civil servant, Mrs Ann John, a level 15 officer told NAN that N50, 000 was deducted from her salary by IPPIS for three consecutive months for no reason.

“I was surprised when I collected my pay slip I discovered that N50,000 was deducted from my salary by IPPIS.

“When I requested for explanation from Salaries and Wages in my office, I was told that the office did not authorise such deductions,’’ John said.

Mr Abdullahi Musa, a level 12 civil servant said he did not buy any goods from any vendor yet a certain amount was being deducted from his salary monthly.

“I went to IPPIS desk office in my office and they could not give any reason for the deductions, the office was not even aware of such deductions,’’ Musa said.

Ms. Chikara Chineke, a level 10 officer said that she had also experienced a monthly deduction of N10,000 for a period of six months.

“I don’t understand why deductions were made from my salary for six consecutive months without explanation. It is not funny. I have complained and nothing has been done.

“At least, there should be some explanation to that. I never collected anything on credit that I should suffer this. Something has to be done to stop the deductions,’’ Chineke lamented.

Investigations by NAN reveal that data of subscribers have been compromised by organisations and individuals they had been entrusted with.

Oftentimes, Nigerians are inundated with messages on their cell phones and e-mails asking them to subscribe to goods and services.

The recipients, especially public service workers, are encouraged to apply for loans from micro-credit outfits on very liberal conditions, including not providing securities for the facilities.

Repayments for such loans which can be obtained within 24 hours, are cheap with interests on single digit.

Others request prospective subscribers to buy household goods on credit and the repayment plan spread overtime.

Prospective subscribers are asked not to worry about the mode of repayment since the vendors can access their payroll information from their employers.

This has often been the case with Federal Government employees enrolled on IPPIS.

While the promoters of the services claim they work with IPPIS, the agency under the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation, denies knowledge of the transactions. Meanwhile, the workers on the receiving end have continued to groan.

However, NAN sought to get the comments of the Director, IPPIS, Mr Olufehinti Olusegun on the allegations but several phone calls and text messages put across to his cell phone were not answered.