University lecturers, whose February and March salaries were withheld, were asked to submit their bank verification numbers (BVNs) to avoid double payment.
The federal government had embargoed the salaries of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) members in federal universities for refusing to register on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
However, President Muhammadu Buhari, last week directed that the salaries be paid in view of the economic difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
But one of the conditions given for the payment is that the lecturers should submit their BVNs to their respective vice-chancellors for onward transmission to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
ASUU had since reacted to the president’s gesture, saying it welcomed it as a way of creating room for dialogue but added that its members would not submit their BVNs to the Accountant General’s Office.
The union described the demand as a ploy to enroll them into IPPIS through the “back-door.”
The top official with the Federal Ministry of Finance, however, explained that the government’s demand was a revalidation to know those lecturers who had earlier received their February and March salaries under the (IPPIS) and also those on sabbatical leave.
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