The National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, has revoked the accreditation of Abia State Polytechnic Aba for failing to pay its employees for thirty months despite the Board’s warnings.
This was said in a statement by Fatima Abubakar, head of the NBTE’s Media Department, in Kaduna State.
It was stated that the Board made the decision after realising that the polytechnic’s administration was not committed to resolving the arrears and assuring the regular payment of its employees’ salaries.
The Board stated that it had repeatedly cautioned the institution’s management, noting that “regular payment of salary is one of the key components of the Board’s normative instruments for quality assurance in the polytechnics and Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions under her jurisdiction.”
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“The Board had called the polytechnic’s attention to the consequences of unpaid salary, including the suspension of quality assurance visits.”
“The polytechnic’s Governing Council and management made repeated broken pledges to clear the backlog of salary arrears and assure regular payment of personnel salaries.”
“The Board went above and above by advising His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu, of the polytechnic’s precarious predicament, but all to no purpose.”
In light of this, the Board stated that it had no choice but to withdraw the polytechnic’s accreditation status in order to protect the Board’s quality assurance mechanism and to ensure that students were not left at the mercy of demoralised staff who might resort to ‘under the table’ practises to survive.
Meanwhile, the Board has warned the National Youth Service Corps that “no Abia State Polytechnic product should be mobilised for national service until the polytechnic’s management resolves the issue of nonpayment of salary to its staffers, while the Board promised to notify the NYSC once the polytechnic’s accreditation status is restored.”
Furthermore, the Board stated that notice of the polytechnic’s accreditation withdrawal had been submitted to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund and the Industrial Training Fund in order to halt any formal transaction with the polytechnic by both organisations.
“Polytechnic proprietors around the country are recommended to take regular payment of employee salaries seriously, as failing to do so may result in loss of accreditation,” it added.
