Shortage of cash-backing responsible for non-remittance of workers NHF contribution — IPPIS

Mr. Emma Deko, the Director in Charge of the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS), says a shortage of cash back is responsible for the non-remittance of workers contributions to the National Housing Fund (NHF).

Deko said this at the resumed hearing of the House of Representatives ad hoc committee investigating the non-remittance of deductions from workers salaries for NHF in Abuja on Tuesday.

He also said sometimes IPPIS gets directives to remit the net of workers salaries while keeping the gross in view because of a shortage of funds.

The Director further said that IPPIS was not responsible for the payment of salaries to workers, adding that it only processed payments.

He said in most cases, deductions from workers were not remitted because of a shortage of cashback for approvals for wages.

According to him, while IPPIS prepares the salaries for only federal workers, the government appointed four gateways that are responsible for the payment of the salaries to workers.

He gave the names of the gateways that were not situated within the IPPIS, which include the Nigeria Interbank Payment System (NIPS), E-Transact, Remita, and the Government Integrated Finance Management Information System (GIFMIS).

“IPPIS is not in charge of every employee of the federal government. IPPIS is only covering the executive arm. So, IPPIS is not in charge of every government employee.

“Having said that, let me go back to the requirements from IPPIS. The first one is evidence of remittance by all stakeholders and unremitted so far by the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

“The last part of it, the names of beneficiaries, I don’t think IPPIS can provide because we don’t give to beneficiaries.

“We cannot talk about evidence of remittance without deductions, because it is only when you deduct that you can remit.

“I must be sincere that we have been trying to collate this information because it relates as far back as 2011 to date, based on the request of this Honourable Committee,” he said.

He said the IPPIS had been on it but was constrained, and that constraint was the fact that after deductions, it remitted but had yet to pay salaries.

He said there are instances where the cash backing may not cover the entire salary wage bill for a particular month

He said in that instance, ”We are directed to pay only the net, which means that all deductions will be stepped down.”

The Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Dachung Bagos, however, summoned the Accountant General of the Federation to appear before the committee on August 31.

This is to explain the delays in remitting deductions from workers salaries to the Federal Mortgage Bank, while the Central Bank of Nigeria is also to appear before the committee on the same date.