The Buhari administration has claimed that some individuals were sabotaging the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).
The Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) raised the alarm on Sunday in a statement signed by Henshaw Ogubike, the Director of Information.
Nigerian soldiers had complained about the delay in payment of April salaries via an open letter to the Chief of Army Staff, Yusuf Buratai.
The May 7, 2020 letter wondered why there was a delay in their pay while they put their lives on the line for the country.
There have been allegations that the April 2020 salaries of military and paramilitary personnel were delayed “as a result of incapability and inexperience of the operators of the IPPIS”.
But the OAGF claimed the Federal Government had completed the payment of the April 2020 salaries of the Armed Forces personnel.
“The Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) Department in the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation confirmed that as of Friday 8th May 2020, the Armed Forces personnel had been paid”, he said.
The OAGF explained that the delay was due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
This, according to the office, caused the late submission of variations by the Agencies concerned and the need to accommodate their inputs in the April payroll.
The statement recalled that officials of the IPPIS “had given assurance that the salaries would be paid between 4th and 8th May 2020” before the allegations became public.
The Accountant-General’s office said the leak of the story to the media could incite the Armed Forces and Nigerians against the operations of the IPPIS.
It insisted that staff of the office and the IPPIS were competent professionals who have demonstrated the will and capacity to get the job done, “Despite distractions and opposition from some quarters whose objective is to sabotage the government policy that has saved the nation over N361 billion”, the statement added”.