Reps to probe alleged fraud in IPPIS, query minister, official

The House of Representatives on Tuesday set up an inquiry into allegations that the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, was riddled with fraud and irregularities which had led to the non-payment of salaries and allowances of Federal Civil Servants.

The Public Accounts Committee of the House, initiated the inquest in the course of engaging tertiary institutions and other agencies on their financial audit reports for 2018-2019.

The Committee members expressed worry over what they called leakages and sharp practices that they said were observed in the course of their earlier engagement with other agencies, particularly, the J.S. Tarkar University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State.

The Chairman of the Committee, Oluwole Oke gave the ruling while drilling the Rector of Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, Zubair Mustapha on the expenditure and financial audit reports of the tertiary institution, for the years 2018 and 2019.

The Rector of the school, told the Committee, that pending salaries for the years under review, were due to anomalies in the IPPIS, a salary payment system introduced by the President Muhammadu Buhari Government in 2017.

He added that the backlog of salaries are from people who were not captured by IPPIS.

In a swift response, the Lawmakers said that the IPPIS must be investigated, to detect some of the irregularities seen in the system.

The Committee resolved to write the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmad and the Accountant General of the Federation, to explain alleged sleaze, in the federal staff payment system.

The Committee also summoned the External Auditors of the Accounts of Auchi Polytechnic, over discrepancies in the audited reports of the school, for 2018-2019.

The Rector of the school, who claimed that the institution, generated only 1.91billion naira in 2019, however failed to give detailed and technical breakdown of the expenditure of the money and audits of the accounts.

Representatives of the Office of the Auditor of the Federation, Anthony Ayine at the investigative Hearing also strongly rejected his presentation before the Committee.

Consequently, the Committee placed the Institution on status of inquiry in order to determine it’s financial status