The management of Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, has concluded plans
to sack over 500 staff employed ‘through the back door’ few days to the
end of the tenure of the immediate past governor of the state, DailyTrust reports.
While speaking to a news correspondent, a top management staff of
the polytechnic, said the management had been investigating sundry
issues bothering on presentation of forged or fake certificates,
falsification of age, overstaffing of some units, presentation of first
school leaving certificates indicating that the holders already had the
certificates as early as age 3.
The state Commissioner of Information and Strategies, Chief John
Okiyi Kalu disclosed that the government was aware of the development,
but that the sack was a decision by the institution management.
He said however that nobody had been sacked yet. “Information
available to us indicates that as at today, no worker of the institution
has received disengagement notice of any kind. It is therefore false to
state that any staff of the institution has been sacked. We are aware
that the management of the institution has been investigating sundry
issues.”
Chief Kalu said the Abia State Government would support any fair
and legal measure to sanitize the institution, pay workers regularly and
wean itself of dependence on government for survival.
He said government was supporting the institution with monthly
subvention of N90m in addition to school fees collected by the
institution.
“The government is not responsible for the payment of the
workers of the institution but instead pays subventions to the school to
cushion revenue inflow shortfalls,” he said, adding that with sanitization and restructuring of the institution, it could cease to be a drainpipe.