Abia State governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has approved the release of N450 million as ‘salary support’ to the Abia State Polytechnic for immediate payment of four months’ salary arrears.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Onyebuchi Ememanka, in Aba.
This, the CPS said, followed the withdrawal of Abia Polytechnic’s accreditation by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) over non-payment of 30 months’ salaries.
The governor, he added, gave the approval on Wednesday while hosting a delegation of student leaders from the tertiary institutions in Abia who paid him a visit at the Governor’s Lodge in Aba.
The governor said although the government was not responsible for the payment of salaries of tertiary institution workers in Abia, including the polytechnic, his administration would not abandon the workers.
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“What the state government owes the institution is a monthly subsidy of N90 million, and this administration has so far paid N7.1 billion to the polytechnic since I assumed office in 2015.
“This translates to N92 million every month for the 78 months I have been in office as governor,” Ikpeazu said.
He added, “With this N450 million additional support, the polytechnic has received over N7.5 billion from this administration.”
The governor wondered why the institution was unable to manage its internal financial issues since it “collects and retains all manner of fees from its students.”
Ikpeazu said the polytechnic must be able to manage what is available to it, since it handles admissions independently and recruits its own staff.
Commenting on the withdrawal of accreditation for the polytechnic by NBTE, the governor stated that the mandate of the NBTE does not extend to shutting down an institution on account of labour-related issues, since it is not the National Industrial Court (NIC).
Ikpeazu wondered why the NBTE has not withdrawn the accreditation of tertiary institutions in some parts of the country where insecurity had stopped academic activities for over two years.
He said the government and the Abia State University (ABSU) management would meet today to resolve labour issues at the university, assuring of the government’s commitment to all state-owned higher institutions.
He expressed happiness that the student leaders had risen to the occasion by refusing to be used as agents of destabilisation on account of the challenge at Abia Poly.
The student leaders who spoke earlier were drawn from the Students Union Governments (SUGs) of all tertiary institutions in the state.
They told the governor that those who claimed to be student leaders who passed a vote of “No Confidence” on him were fake, and not students of any institution in Abia State.
