By IHECHINYERE CHIGEMERI-UWOM

The Coalition of Authentic Students Union Leaders of Abia State have expressed shock over the withdrawal of Abia State Polytechnic accreditation status.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the coalition, representing tertiary institutions in Abia, said in a statement in Umuahia that it was disheartening to note that staff of the institution were owed salary arrears in spite of its internally generated revenue and monthly subvention received from government.

The statement was signed by Stanley Nwankpa, the Students Union Government(SUG) President of Abia Polytechnic; Chukwuma Ogochukwu, SUG President of Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike; Paul Chinedum, SUG President of School of Nursing, Amachara; Obinna Nweke , SUG President of School of Nursing, Umuahia.

It stated that “the coalition had engaged stakeholders to inquire the real position of things regarding reasons the impasse had degenerated to denial of accreditation to our dear state polytechnic.

The coalition expressed shock and sadness that the withdrawal happened in spite of the huge investments of a cumulative sum of over N7.1billion as monthly subvention and loan payoffs by Abia State Government to the Polytechnic from July 2015 to May 2022.

“Together with the enormous Internally Generated Revenue accruing to the Polytechnic, there is ample evidence that these humongous amount of scarce resources have not been put into judicious use by the Board and Management of the Polytechnic for salaries and other emoluments.

” We trust that the six-man Committee set up by Gov Okezie Victor Ikpeazu will in addition to seeing to the restoration of the lost accreditation of the state polytechnic, also unravel what has happened to all these funds duly released to the polytechnic.

It condemned the “very appalling and nefarious moves by some sections of the Abia political class to clandestinely politicise this unfortunate development without any iota of patriotism and empathy with the plight of students of the polytechnic”.

The coalition urged people of Abia to disregard any move by group of persons to politicise the education system of Abia and not proffering solutions to the issue on ground.

It stated that the coalition considered the sustained efforts of the government towards boosting education development in Abia as commendable, and passed a vote of confidence on Gov. Okezie |kpeazu.

The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) on Tuesday announced withdrawal of the accreditation status of Abia State Polytechnic over alleged nonpayment of salary arrears and allowances. (NAN)

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