Abia Poly to sack 500 workers

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.

A top management staff of the polytechnic who spoke to Daily Trust in confidence, 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 told Daily Trust 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.