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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has said the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) mandate does not extend to shutting down an institution on account of labour related issues since it is not the National Industrial Court.
This is even as the governor said his administration has made available the sum of N450m to off set some months of salary of workers of the institution which was the borne of contention.
Ikpeazu made these known when student leaders from tertiary institutions in Abia State paid him a solidarity visit at the Governor’s Lodge, Aba.
The Governor wondered why the NBTE has not withdrawn the accreditation of some tertiary institutions in some parts of the country where insecurity has stopped academic activities for over two years but chose to do so to Abia Poly where teaching and learning were ongoing.
Ikpeazu assured the students that he and the lecturers have reached a written agreement that academic activities at the Polytechnic will continue unabated while the interface with the NBTE continues towards the resolution of the crisis.
He said the N450m approved for the polytechnic was salary support for the immediate payment of four months out of the 31 months said to be owed the workers.
Ikpeazu made it clear that while 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, his administration will not abandon the Polytechnic.
“What the State Government owes the Institution is a monthly subvention of N90m and we have so far paid a total sum of N7.1bn to the Polytechnic since I assumed office in 2015, translating to N92m every month for the 78 months I have been in office as Governor.
“With this N450m additional support, the Polytechnic has received over N7.5bn from this administration and I wonder why the institution is unable to manage their internal financial issues since they collect and retain all manner of fees from their students”.
Ikpeazu insisted that the Polytechnic must be able to manage what is available to them since they handle their admissions independently and recruit their own staff.
On Abia State University, the Governor said the State Government and the leadership of the University will meet today to deepen conversation on how to resolve the labour issues at the institution, and assured his administration would remain committed to all the State owned higher institutions.
The student leaders while speaking, pledged their support to the governor.
