NBTE withdraws Abia poly’s accreditation
The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has withdrawn the accreditation of Abia State Polytechnic, Aba over non-payment of staff salaries and allowances of staff for over 30 months.
NBTE Head, Media Department, Hajiya Fatima Abubakar, said this in a statement issued in Kaduna on Tuesday.
Abubakar said that the accreditation was withdrawn because the polytechnic had not shown any commitment to offset the arrears and ensure regular payment of salaries.
She explained that regular payment of salary was one of a key component of the board’s normative instruments for quality assurance in the Polytechnics, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.
She also said the board had drawn the attention of the polytechnic’s management to the dangers inherent in non-payment of salaries, including the suspension of quality assurance visits.
Abubakar also said that the governing council and management of the polytechnic made several failed promises to settle the backlog of salary arrears.
“The board went the extra mile of writing to Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, informing him of the dire situation of the polytechnic but all to no avail.
“It is, therefore, with utmost sense of responsibility that the board has decided to withdraw the accreditation status of the polytechnic to safeguard the quality assurance mechanism of the board.
“It is also to ensure that students are not left at the mercy of demotivated staff that may resort to under the table practices to survive,” she said.