Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo
The government of Abia State has absolved itself from the loss of accreditation and clamped down on the Abia State Polytechnic (Abiapoly), Aba, saying that the successive management of the institution should be blamed for the “embarrassing” development.
State commissioner for information and strategy, Mr Eze Chikamnayo, stated the government’s position while briefing journalists on the outcome of the state executive council meeting held at government house Umuahia.
He said that the government has consistently honoured its financial obligation to Abiapoly, adding a total sum of N7.1 billion over the past 78 months at an average of N98 million per month.
“Abiapoly’s problem is poor management. There has been successive abuse of best practices in the running of the institution,” he said. “Their problem is self-inflicted (and) any time a parastatal decides to ignore best past pea tunes, it should face the consequences.”
The spokesman said Governor Okezie Ikpeazu Ikpeazu was aware of the rot in the polytechnic, but the industrial unions have always blocked every effort to sanitise the institution.
He cited staff strength that includes 40 doctors on the payroll for the staff clinic, 40 in the bookshop while 120 hands were employed to work in the staff canteen, “yet the institution can’t pay salary.”
However, Chikamnayo assured that the government has decided to rescue the floundering state-owned polytechnic and has already taken steps to achieve that goal.
Both the management and the institution’s governing board were dissolved in the wake of the withdrawal of accreditation announced by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) on Tuesday.
Nonetheless, he faulted the NBTE for withdrawing Abiapoly accreditation on the grounds of Nigeria-payment of salaries, saying the board should not be seen to be usurping the roles of trade unions.
