• Says NBTE mandate excludes shutting down institutions
Following accreditation withdrawal of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), the state governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, on Wednesday, approved the release of N450 million naira as subvention to the institution to enable it pay four months out of the reported 10 months salary arrears owed the workers.
Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Mr. Onyebuchi Ememanka, in a statement issued yesterday, stated that the approval was announced when the governor hosted a delegation of students union leaders, comprising National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) and the National Association of Abia State Students (NAAS) drawn from tertiary institutions in the state.
The CPS stated that Ikpeazu clarified, during the meeting, that the state government is not statutorily responsible for payment of salaries of state tertiary institutions’ workers, but promised that his government would not abandon them.
He said the governor explained that what the state government owes the institution is a monthly subvention of N90 million and his administration, from inception in 2015 till date, has paid a total of N7.1 billion to the polytechnic, making it a total of N92 million monthly for the 78 months he has been in office.
“With this N450 million additional support, the polytechnic has received over N7.5 billion from his administration, hence the governor wonders why the institutions’ managements were unable to manage their internal financial issues, since they collect and retain all manner of fees from their students,” the CPS said.
Adding that governor Ikpeazu insisted that the polytechnic must manage what is available to them since they handle their admissions, independently, and recruit their own staff. He noted that Ikpeazu pointed out, however, that the mandate of NBTE does not extend to shutting down an institution on account of labour related issues since it is not the National Industrial Court.
