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The Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu has finally made an approved for the release of ₦450 million as a way of salary support to the State Polytechnic for immediate payment of four months’ salary arrears to the lecturers and other staff.
Mr. Onyebuchi Ememanka, the Chief Press Secretary of the governor, disclosed this in a statement issued on Thursday in Aba.
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This followed the withdrawal of Abia Polytechnic’s accreditation by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) over non-payment of 30 months salaries.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ikpeazu hosted a delegation of Student Leaders at the Governor’s Lodge in Aba. The governor had noted that although the government is not responsible for the payment of salaries of tertiary institution workers in Abia including the polytechnic, his administration will not abandon them
“What the State Government owes the institution is a monthly subvention of N90million and this administration has so far paid N7.1 Billion to the Polytechnic since I assumed office in 2015.
“This translates to ₦92million every month for the 78 months I have been in office as governor.
“With this N450million additional support, the polytechnic has received over ₦7.5billion from this administration,” he said.
He wondered why the institution is unable to manage its internal financial issues since it “collects and retain all manner of fees from their students.”
According to Ikpeazu, the polytechnic must be able to manage what is available to it since it handles admissions independently and recruit it 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 labor related issues since it is not the National Industrial Court.
