Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has approved the release of N450 million as salary support to the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, to pay 4 months out of the 30 months arrears of salaries owed workers of the institution.

The National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, had last week, withdrawn the accreditation of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, over the nonpayment of 30 months arrears of salaries owed workers.

Ikpeazu who disclosed this when he received a delegation of student leaders from the tertiary institutions in the State on a solidarity visit at the Governor’s Lodge Aba, explained that the government is not responsible for the payment of the salaries of the workers of the Polytechnic or any other tertiary institutions in the State.

In his words; “What the State Government owes the Institution is a monthly subvention of 90 million Naira. My administration has so far paid a total sum of 7.1 Billion Naira to the Polytechnic since we assumed office in 2015, translating to 92 Million Naira every month for the 78 months he has been in office as Governor.

“With this 450 Million Naira additional support, the Polytechnic has received over 7.5 Billion Naira from his 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.”

He advised that the Polytechnic must be able to manage what is available to them since they handle their admissions independently and recruit their own staff.