TheCable

Two agencies under the ministry of petroleum resources have reportedly refused to key into the federal government’s Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (lPPIS).

A source disclosed that the agencies are the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

According to the source, workers in the Nigerian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NNRA) and Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), who had initially refused to key into the system, submitted their nominal roll to the IPPIS office on August 11 and August 14, respectively, after a meeting with Ahmed Idris, accountant-general of the federation.

Workers in the oil sector had embarked on a three-day warning strike last week after the suspension of their salaries following their failure to enroll on the IPPIS platform.

They, however, suspended the industrial action on Sunday after meeting with Idris.

The source added that the DPR and PPPRA are frustrating the federal government’s efforts to keep track of personnel cost.

“Against the efforts by the federal government to plug loopholes for financial misappropriation in the oil sector through the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS), Nigerian oil workers have refused to be on the system,” the source said.

“In addition, they have disrupted the economic process through industrial action at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources in protest, demanding three months payment of their salaries.

“Most of the MDAs have enrolled, including the tertiary institutions, though with some resistance. However, the agencies under the ministry that have refused to come on board are namely: Department of Petroleum Resources and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency. Efforts to get these agencies to enroll on the IPPIS platform failed.

“For now, Nigeria, which gets about 90 percent of its foreign exchange from oil exports, is hard-hit, like every other nation in the world, from the impact of the COVID-19 and a plunge in crude prices since March.

“While the market has since rebounded and stabilised, the pandemic and the oil price volatility have obviously caused government’s revenue to drastically dwindle.

“In spite of the dwindling revenue, Mr. President in his magnanimity had directed that all workers be paid their March 2020 salaries in order to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”