Reps to probe alleged fraud in IPPIS

House of Representatives has resolved to probe alleged fraud in the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System of the Federal Government.

The irregularities have reportedly led to non-payment of salaries and allowances of some civil servants.

The payment system was introduced by the Federal Government in 2017.

The decision to investigate the IPPIS was made on Tuesday by House Committee on Public Accounts.

This is coming after its engagement with various tertiary institutions and government agencies on their financial audit reports for 2018 and 2019.

The committee said it had observed leakages and sharp practices in the course of grilling those who appeared before it, especially the J. S. Tarkar University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State.

Chairman of the committee, Wole Oke, called for the probe after the lawmakers grilled the Rector, Federal Polytechnic Auchi, Edo State, Dr Zubair Mustapha.

Mustapha had told the committee that salary arrears had accumulated due to anomalies in the IPPIS, saying, “The backlog of salaries is for the people who were not captured by IPPIS.”

Oke said, “That is why we must look into the IPPIS. We were told here that the salaries of personnel of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi (Benue State), went into accounts of staff of Jigawa State.

“IPPIS must be investigated to detect some of the irregularities observed in the system. We have observed some serious irregularities in the system.”

The committee resolved to write the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, to explain the anomalies in the federal staff payment system.

Also, the committee summoned the external auditors of the accounts of Auchi Polytechnic over discrepancies in the audited reports of the institution for 2018 and 2019.