Alhassan told reporters in Abuja that Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) staff had no foreknowledge of the commencement of the IPPIS programme, noting that this communication gap led to most of the problems faced by his members.
``Our management made us to understand that their discussion with the IPPIS office was that they were likely to start the NIPOST's payment in June, 2012.
``But the programme commenced in May, so the situation caused more than 2000 out of 10,000 workers, not to be captured by the programme."
Alhassan said that in NIPOST as at June, 2012, the number of staff members who were enrolled into the IPPIS programme was 8,526 while 8,055 received their pay.
``All together the number of staff members who were not paid completely in June due to either bad finger print or non-capturing are 1,318.
``As I speak to you, the office that is handling this programme in NIPOST has not forwarded to the union the exact number of staff members who were affected.’’
He said that the affected workers had complained to the union, adding that some of them had not received their salaries since May.
Alhassan said that so many of them have had their problems with IPPIS sorted out, but still their salaries have not being paid fully.
``We discovered that as at the month that the correction was made, the Accountant General's Office would only pay for that month, leaving arrears behind.
``As I speak with you, my May salary has not been paid.
``Some of the problems were not due to a mistake by the staff members. For example, I don’t have an account in Access Bank but by the time they brought their record it was showing Access Bank.
``The AGF should not hold back the arrears of some workers' salaries after all the clarifications have been made.''
Alhassan said the Union had been able to plead with the management to work directly with the IPPIS office to rectify the abnormalities.
He also said that the NIPOST management has done the best it could to ensure that the matter was attended to by the office of the accountant general of the federation.
He appealed to the Federal Government to correct the identified lapses in IPPIS operations before the end of September.
``This is because we may not be able to hold back the workers who had not received their salaries since May from venting their grievances through legitimate means.
``By the end of September the workers who have not had their salaries may be forced to go out on the street to agitate and it may not be anything thing short of us picketing the office of the AGF.
``If the Federal Government fails to address the issue of arrears immediately and we go into a new year, it would be very difficult to get the money.’’
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