1Good Broadcast Journalism should achieve effective dissemination of messages to the end users. The broadcast media (TV & Radio) is unique because of large local audience reach, prime source of news, high impact, universal coverage, loyalty, credibility, urban and rural among others (Agility, n.d.). But traditional media is no longer efficient in modern society if not backed by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
2AI decreases the social and economic inequalities within the society (Villani, C. et al, 2018), through dissemination of accurate and timely information. Where A1 technologies exist, they are used to effectively broadcast vital information to people about issues affecting their well-being. Government policies are thus communicated since they are meant to resolve worrisome situations and enhance living. One such policy is the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) which was intended by the Nigerian Government to curb excessive spending and mismanagement of public funds. However, one questions the efficacy of IPPIS on Nigerian public servants, especially the staff of federal government institutions of tertiary education, because it will interfere with the existing financial policies in place especially in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) educational systems. The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) is a leading ODL institution in Nigeria with a staff population of 4615. So, it is necessary to ensure that new government policies do not destabilise the smooth-running system and pitch her Staff against the University Management or the National Universities Union against the Federal Government.
3In ODL institutions where large numbers of staff man the affairs of the various campuses scattered across the country, there is need to involve the entire staff in the decisions that will affect their welfare, to ensure their loyalty and improved productivity. Being a standard ODL institution, NOUN has adequate AI technologies, a radio station (FM 105.9) and commensurate staff to man them. Despite all these, adequate awareness was not created before IPPIS fell on the un-expectant staff. This has created a lot of disharmony, bitterness and rancour among the NOUN staff, especially in the academia. It has positioned the Nigerian government negatively before the teeming NOUN staff, making them continuously castigate the Federal Public Service of Nigeria whose policy intersects the University’s financial process. These unpleasant effects of the mass miscommunication on IPPIS show how mass communication of public policies can fail when AI-assisted broadcasting is absent. This paper investigates the level of awareness of NOUN staff about the need to adopt and implement IPPIS as a government policy aimed at reforming the Financial Management Process in Nigeria, their perception towards IPPIS and its perceived benefits to them.
4Intelligence: is the capacity to do the right thing at the right time, in a context where doing nothing (making no change in behaviour) would be worse.
5Artificial Intelligence: refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions.
6Social Media: group of Internet-based applications that allow for the creation and exchange of user-generated content by using geospatial data and artificial intelligence technologies.
7IPPIS Policies in NOUN: is an innovation which enhances productivity by removing cumbersome manual processes in Government MDAs e.g. Ministry of Education/NOUN.
8UTAS: University Transparency and Accountability Solution
9ASUU: Academic Staff Union of University
10The aim of this study is to ascertain the level of awareness of NOUN staff about the need to adopt and implement IPPIS, assessing the general perception of IPPIS among them, and gathering insights into ways they think IPPIS might be able to serve them better.
-
To examine the level of awareness about the IPPIS policy among employees of NOUN
-
To evaluate the common perception associated with the IPPIS policy among employees of NOUN
-
To obtain insights from NOUN employees on the best methods to use the IPPIS to enhance their welfare and productivity
-
What is the level of awareness about the IPPIS government policy among staff of NOUN?
-
What are the common perceptions about the IPPIS policy among staff of NOUN?
-
What may be done to boost the confidence level of NOUN staff regarding the usefulness and adequacy of IPPIS to staff welfare and productivity?
11NOUN is Nigeria’s first ODL institution, the first of its kind in the West Africa. It was originally established on 22nd July, 1983. It is the most populated tertiary institution in Nigeria with 515,000 (five hundred & fifteen thousand) registered students (NOUN Enrolment Doc. 2022). It has over 113 Study Centres throughout the country and offers over 105 programmes and over 1,000 courses (Omuya. S.O:2023). It has the equipment to drive its numerous activities for students, academic and administrative staff. Key among the facilities is the social media technology such as: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, You Tube, etc. There is also NOUN 105.9 FM Radio Station that can stream any vital information about IPPIS.
12Artificial Intelligence (AI) heralding devices that can learn by themselves (machine learning) and imitate the human thoughts, although not new, has become a futuristic or ground-breaking technology; hence, the increasing impact on different spheres of human endeavour cannot be precisely predicted (Casey, 2019).
13AI is any software technology that is able to perceive multimedia element, such as face recognition; decision-making and prediction (Vinuesa, et al, 2020). Similarly, McNevin, (2017) notes that AI is being utilized by the media for audience engagement, content planning and network management. Hence, the rewards of using AI in broadcast are significant – increased efficiency, flexibility, cost-savings, during program production. (Lee, n.d. Para.5). NOUN should have keyed into all these values of AI and utilise them in involving their staff before the implementation of the IPPIS policy.
14Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) is a World Bank-assisted project under the Economic Reform and Government Project (ERGP) which was aimed at establishing a reliable and comprehensive database for the public service, facilitate manpower planning, assist in providing information for decision making, eliminate double dipping and credentials falsification, facilitate easy storage, update and retrieval of personnel record for administrative and pension process, and to facilitate staff remuneration payment. IPPIS programme enables the government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to fish out the ghost workers for the attainment of public probity in governance.
15IPPIS is a payroll policy that was introduced in 2006 in Nigeria, Farajimakin and Anichebe (2017). It is an innovation which enhances productivity by removing cumbersome manual processes in MDAs. Under it, workers’ salaries are paid centrally from the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) into individual workers’ accounts as opposed to the former practice under which estimated staff salaries were released to MDAs and the ministries who then, paid the individual workers. Processes like functions of payroll management, establishment control, personnel management and budgeting need to be closely integrated so that information about employee costs and deployment can be shared. In NOUN, IPPIS policy was not appropriately communicated to all the stakeholders. This has created rancour and apathy among NOUN staff. The purpose and scope or attributions of the Policy are unclear to the workers concerned. The implementation surely saved huge amount but it has taken its toll on the employees’ productivity.
16NOUN staff were not adequately informed and not considered in the evaluation of the policy before they were forcefully made to embrace it. So, they are operating under a system that is not favourable to their welfare, causing much apathy among them; the policy was rejected as perceived through the fall in their work ethics and productivity. The staff are highly demoralised and would go any length to sabotage the implementation of the policy.
17The relevant theories are the Technological Determinism Theory of Thorsten Veblen (1926), which looks at the benefits of technology in the society and the Robert Edward Freeman’s “Stakeholder Theory” of 1984. The topic is however, focused on the Stakeholder Theory of organizational management and business ethics which addresses morals and values in managing an organization. This theory emphasizes the need for interconnected relationships between a business and its customers, suppliers, employees, investors, communities and others who have a stake in the organization. The theory argues that a firm should create value for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
-
-
Implementation of IPPIS had weak positive relationship with employee welfare, though statistically significant.
-
Positive and strong relationship between integrated payroll system and personnel cost and overhead cost.
-
Reduction in the incentive, capacity and opportunity of fraudulent individuals to perpetrate payroll fraud at all levels.
-
TSA, IPPIS and IFMIS have positive and significant relationship with Fraud and fraud management as well as jointly impact the performances of Public Interest Entities.
-
There is significant moderate positive relationship between IPPIS, Transparency and Accountability.
-
University system did not reject IPPIS but argued that IPPIS did not adequately capture university flexibility and peculiarities.
18The studies so far done on IPPIS as sampled above did not show any outright rejection of the policy by the organisations studied. However, in our research, 15.5% of NOUN employees opted for the outright scrapping of IPPIS.
19This study adopted the survey research design. The population of study was the entire staff of NOUN. The sample was drawn from 4,615 NOUN staff members. Being the largest University in the country, with study centres all over the federation, and a wide range of staff presumed to be affected by IPPIS, NOUN was considered apt for the study. Then, the researchers have access to all staff’s email addresses that enabled scientific selection of the respondents. Through the online Google Forms platform, copies of the questionnaire were distributed to 368 respondents obtained through the Taro Yamane sample calculation formula n = N/[1+N(e)2] from NOUN Staff population of 4,615. Hence, a survey of 368 NOUN staff was conducted using Convenience Sampling Technique method and administration of a 23-item questionnaire.
20The survey questionnaire contains 23 questions built to provide answers to the three research questions. Every research question has several corresponding survey questions so as to reinforce the answers obtained and make them more reliable. 368 questionnaires were administered to the target population and 285 responses received, making 77.5% return rate. Given the limited writing space, we cannot present the full survey data in a table format, but readers may contact the authors by email for it.
21Age: Respondents aged 30 to 49 years were the majority at 71.5% (204 of 285 respondents). Those aged 60 years & above were the least at 3.9% (11 out of 285).
22Gender: 65.6% males (187) responded against 34.4% females (98).
23Marital status: 74.0% are married (211) and 22.1% are single (63).
24Educational qualification: First and second degree holders together ranked highest in response at 70.2% (200) while PhD holders scored 14.4% (41) and high secondary/OND/NCE certificate holders are at 13.7% (39).
25No. of years in service: Workers with 3 to 15 years work experience are the most to respond, at 82.1% (234) while those with 21 to 35 years work experience are the least, 2.1% (6).
26Current occupation: Non-academic staff responded most at 86.7% (247), academic staff (lecturers) at 13.3% (38).
27Workers whose salaries appear to be most negatively impacted by IPPIS responded more massively to the survey. Such are married males aged 30 to 49 years whose family financial burdens are generally heavier, and non-teaching staff. They also correspond to first and second degree holders, whereas PhD holders (academic staff) rank very low in response probably because they have alternative sources of income like research grants or sponsorships outside the influence of IPPIS. The female responded half as much as the male maybe because they do not suffer the financial crunch as males do because the females have spouses who support them financially. For the same financial reason, staff with 3 to 15 years work experience are high majority possibly because their salaries are far lower, therefore more impacted, than those of staff with 21 to 35 years work experience whose score is negligible. Good number of staff responded fast with motivation, expecting that the survey outcome will be transmitted to government to deliver them from the stifling grip of IPPIS.
28“What is the level of awareness about the IPPIS government policy among staff of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)?”
29From the 5 corresponding survey questions (7, 8, 9, 10, 11), we got these results:
-
91.5% (261 of 285 respondents) never heard of IPPIS with sufficient explanation before its implementation.
-
60.7% (173 of 285) received first information about IPPIS through government media (university authorities, radio/TV, newspaper); while only 12.6% (36 of 285) got the information through internet (social media).
-
84.6% (241 of 285 respondents) did not receive official information or communication from the Government or NOUN authorities explaining the IPPIS policy even after its implementation in NOUN.
-
82.8% (236 of 285) did still not understand the IPPIS policy after its implementation.
-
76.8% (219 of 285) were not involved in the IPPIS policy evaluation before its implementation in NOUN.
30Data analysis shows a very high level of ignorance and lack of understanding of the IPPIS policy among respondents before and even after its implementation in the University despite the fact that over half of them received first information on it through government media. This means that government’s communication on the issue was highly substandard or inadequate. The failure in effective broadcast of the IPPIS information is evidently due to government’s use of the traditional media and quasi-absence of Artificial Intelligence-assisted broadcasting tools (the social media) during the information campaign or communication process. The level of awareness about the IPPIS policy among staff of NOUN is therefore very low, one reason for the staff hostility and rejection of IPPIS. The non-involvement of over three-quarters of respondents in IPPIS policy evaluation before its implementation and the failure by government to duly explain the policy to staff after implementation, amidst unending complaints, means lack of consideration for the stakeholders.
31“What are the common perceptions about the IPPIS policy among staff of National Open University of Nigeria?”
32From the 9 corresponding survey questions (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20), we got these results:
-
71.6% (204 of 285) do not believe that the deployment of IPPIS is in their interest.
-
78.2% (223 of 285) disagree that their remuneration was not negatively affected by the implementation of IPPIS in NOUN.
-
71.6% (204 of 285) disagree that their perception about the usefulness of IPPIS has improved positively over the past few months of its implementation.
-
70.6% (201 of 285) disagree that IPPIS can be instrumental to the success and stability of, and to the incentive for daily operations at NOUN.
-
81.8% (233 of 285) agree that IPPIS is not programmed to consider the peculiar nature of the appointment of university academics.
-
77.5% (221 of 285) agree that IPPIS does not recognise payment of promotion arrears, rent and other earned allowances.
-
86.3% (246 of 285) agree that IPPIS does not capture the technicalities associated with the flexibility and mobility of academics in the university system.
-
55.8% (159 of 285) either disagree or are not sure that IPPIS adequately monitors monthly staff payments to ensure minimal wastage and leakage, as against 44.2% who agree (126 of 285).
-
49.9% (142 of 285) agree that IPPIS adequately eliminates payroll fraud involving multiple payments to a single employee. 22.8% (65 of 285) are not sure, while 27.3% (78) disagree.
33Nearly half of respondents agree that IPPIS adequately eliminates payroll fraud involving multiple payments to a single employee. Less than half of them also agree that IPPIS adequately monitors monthly staff payments to ensure minimal wastage and leakage. In contrast, more than three-quarters of them affirm that their remuneration was negatively affected by IPPIS because it does not recognise payment of promotion arrears, rent and other earned allowances. Again, over four-fifth of them agree that IPPIS does not capture the technicalities associated with the flexibility and mobility of academics in the university system because it is not programmed to consider the peculiar nature of the appointment of university academics. A high majority of respondents hence believe that IPPIS cannot be instrumental to the success and stability of, nor as incentive for daily operations at NOUN. They do not believe that the deployment of IPPIS is in their interest, and the negative perception about the usefulness of IPPIS has not improved positively over the past few years of its implementation.
34“What may be done to boost the confidence level of NOUN staff regarding the usefulness and adequacy of IPPIS to staff welfare and productivity?”
35From the 3 corresponding survey questions (21, 22, 23), we got these results:
-
91.2% (260 of 285) agreed that implementation of IPPIS must be reviewed to accommodate the peculiarities of the Nigerian University system.
-
69.1% (197 of 285) agreed, 15.4% (44 of 285) were undecided, and 15.4% disagreed (44 of 285) to readily accept and adopt IPPIS if the problematic aspects peculiar to the university system and the appointment of academics are properly addressed.
-
In suggesting specific changes that respondents will like government to make regarding IPPIS:
58% want IPPIS to be adjusted to cater for the peculiarities of the University;
15.5% want IPPIS scrapped and a return to status quo;
13.9% proposed measures that are outside the scope, attributions or functions of IPPIS;
7.1% want government to stop fraudulent activity and the inefficiency of IPPIS desk officers;
5.5% have no opinion.
36To make IPPIS useful and adequate for the university system, a crushing majority of respondents opined that it should be reviewed to accommodate the peculiarities of the Nigerian university system and therefore nearly three-quarters of them are ready to accept and adopt the IPPIS policy if the shortfalls are addressed. However, a reasonable number want IPPIS to be completely scrapped and the former payroll system re-introduced, confirming the bad perception towards IPPIS. This negative perception is amplified by the observed fraudulent activities, lateness and short-payment of remunerations (inefficiency) practised by IPPIS desk officers. Prior involvement of NOUN staff as stakeholders in the corporate management decision-making could have prevented the lacunas that are causing the rejection of IPPIS. Several off-point proposals made by many respondents seeking to improve IPPIS expose their low awareness about IPPIS. Some call on government to do a wide information campaign for workers to understand the IPPIS policy.
37Higher levels of insecurity to life and property lead to higher health risks from mental and physical aggressions (murder, maiming, kidnapping) and higher prevalence of native epidemic diseases, thus requiring more financial resources for stakeholders (people) to cope or survive in the harsher environment. Insecurity is also precipitated by degraded physical environment and climatic catastrophes (planet) such as pervasive heavy flooding with concomitant extensive gulley erosions and fire outbreaks which jointly render people homeless. Food insecurity due to nomadic herdsmen who attack to destroy farmlands and rustle livestock is causing galloping inflation in food prices, coupled with the Russian-Ukrainian year-old war that has blocked access to imported food grains. So, fear from insecurity (lack of peace) in all its ramifications has led to multidimensional poverty (lack of prosperity) which bites harder on low and middle income earners than on higher-cadre staff. For this reason, and because part of their salaries are being fraudulently remitted to third-party traders, lower-income NOUN staff without alternative sources of finance like married females and senior academic staff were faster to denounce the IPPIS Policy epitomised by loss of income and impoverishment because they were not properly informed nor considered (lack of partnership) to evaluate the policy before implementation.
38At national level, an in-depth study of IPPIS policy proposing how its rejection and partial failure may be resolved. At global level, using People, Partnership, Peace, Prosperity and Planet as focal points, we introduced the expanded view of the Stakeholder Theory for policy-making.
39From the preamble, we can identify five factors which interact to impact human life and hence productivity on the planet earth, as has also been observed by the United Nations Organisation in her “17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030” grouped under “The 5 Ps” – People, Partnership, Peace, Prosperity and Planet. Implementation of the SDGs illustrates the global application of a policy-making model which we identified empirically and harnessed to develop the “Expanded Stakeholder Theory” to guide decision-makers towards the achievement of more acceptable and sustainable policies by incorporating in the policy-making process, three additional non-human factors which often interact and impact the human factor in almost every (corporate) activity. Hitherto, only physical human and physical environmental factors were taken into consideration to measure the adequacy or propriety of new policies.
40The aim of the Expanded Stakeholder Theory is to achieve wider inclusiveness by working in partnership to achieve peace and prosperity for people and the planet, or by making people work in partnership to achieve peace and prosperity for the planet. Therefore, the Expanded Stakeholder Theory for policy-making states that, “The more a policy allows people to work in partnership to achieve peace and prosperity for all and the planet (physical environment), the more extensive, acceptable and sustainable the policy will be”.
41When applied, this multi-stakeholder theory of policy-making reduces the chances of policy rejection by allowing all human stakeholders to be involved, directly or indirectly, in making policies that touch them, provides the occasion to consider and so anticipate possible countervailing forces which may emanate from the non-human factors to ultimately undermine the policies. For example, when the planet (physical environment) lacks peace due to unfriendly actions leading to human and environmental degradations or climatic catastrophes, people are hardly able to collaborate in partnership to achieve prosperity and avert multidimensional poverty which causes hunger, withdrawal from school, non-affordability of healthcare, etc, all because, to survive episodes of extreme scarcity and danger to life, people become selfish and self-serving, telling themselves that self-preservation is the first law of nature! But these negative impacts on people can be avoided if the planet is considered as a stakeholder in the decision-making process by letting the new policy accommodate ways to respect and protect the physical environment.
42Now that globalisation has literally reduced the earth to a small village model where an event somewhere can rapidly affect someone anywhere, the Stakeholder Theory has become primordial in social matters and the Expanded Stakeholder Theory tries in a holistic manner to drive economic actors to be their “brothers’ keepers” by getting policy-makers to consider all the human and non-human factors involved in policies that impact people’s lives, and hence also save human, time and material resources that would have been later spent on trouble-shooting or corrective actions.
43Human stakeholders are central, but non-human stakeholders such as planet, peace, prosperity, and partnership must also be considered during policy-making because they really constitute the yardsticks or parameters against which government and corporate policies should be measured to ascertain their adequacy. “People” is just one out of the five stakeholder-factors. If the four non-human factors are not considered and properly managed, they may become destructive forces against human, crop and livestock productivity. This explains why insecurity (absence of peace) undermines economic development. Typical operational questions during policy-making are “How will this policy or decision affect the partnership (collaboration & trust) between stakeholders, their peace as people (serenity & self-esteem), their prosperity (financial & social conditions), their planet (workplace & family environments)?” Acceptable and sustainable policies have higher probability to emerge from such a policy-making process because all the relevant stakeholder-factors or parameters will have been considered to satisfaction before the adoption and implementation of the new policy or decision.
44To achieve the wide, intensive information campaign and feedbacks required for this type of policy-making process, it is imperative to adopt AI-assisted broadcasting.
45In this research, using the case study of IPPIS Policy implementation in NOUN and the model of United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, we expanded, operationalised and enhanced the original Robert Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory (1984) to develop the Expanded Stakeholder Theory (2023) - Onwubere, C.H. and Osuji, H.O.
-
Government should review IPPIS to incorporate peculiarities of the Nigerian university system. The Expanded Stakeholder Theory model should be employed to identify and capture the main worries of NOUN staff, using AI-assisted broadcasting tools and not just the traditional media for disseminating relevant information.
-
Authorities should address the claims of fraudulent activity against IPPIS desk officers.