Ikpeazu Approves N450 Million Salary Support For Abia State Polytechnic

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State on Wednesday approved the release of the sum of N450 Million as Salary Support to the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba.

The governor, who disclosed this when a delegation of student leaders from tertiary institutions in the state paid him a solidarity visit at the Governor’s Lodge Aba, directed the management of the institution to immediately pay 4 months out of the salary arrears owed workers of the polytechnic.

The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) had on Tuesday July 19, 2022, withdrew the accreditation of the polytechnic for failing to pay staff salaries and allowances for over 30 months.

The board, in a statement by its spokesperson Ms. Fatima Abubakar, said the accreditation was withdrawn because the polytechnic had not shown any commitment to offset the arrears and ensure regular payment of salaries.

But Ikpeazu while interacting with the students said the state government was not responsible for the payment of the salaries of the workers of the polytechnic or any other tertiary institutions in the state.

He said the state government only owes the Institution monthly subvention of N90 Million, stating that his administration had so far paid a total sum of N7.1 billion to the polytechnic since he assumed office in 2015.

The amount translates to N92 million every month for the 78 months he has been in office as governor.

According to him, the N450 million additional support to the polytechnic brings the total sum received to over N7.5 billion from his administration.

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.”

Ikpeazu said 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.

He wondered why the NBTE had not withdrawn the accreditation of tertiary institutions in some parts of the country where insecurity has stopped academic activities for over 2 years but chose to do so to an institution where teaching and learning are ongoing.

The governor assured the students that he had reached agreement with the lecturers that academic activities will continue unabated while the interface with the NBTE continues towards the resolution of the crisis.