Group Reacts As NBTE Withdraws Accreditation of Abia State Polytechnic

The Abia League of Professionals Initiative (ALPI), has described the withdrawal of the accreditation status of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, as a huge embarrassment to the state.

The group lamented how Abia State which is known for quality education degraded to a state losing the accreditation status of its tertiary institutions.

On Tuesday, the National Board for Technical Education(NBTE) announced the withdrawal of the accreditation status of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, due to the non-payment of staff salaries and allowances for over 30 months.

This was contained in a statement by the NBTE’s Head, Media Department, Fatima Abubakar, in Kaduna State.

It said the Board took the decision when it realised that the management of the polytechnic was not committed to upsetting the arrears and ensuring regular payment of salaries of its workers.

Reacting to the development, the APLI in a statement signed by  Sonny Iroche, Director-General, ALPI and made available to The New Diplomat demanded an explicit explanation from the state government on why the educational sector of the state has degraded so much.

The group also called for a forensic audit of the Abia State Polytechnic and the Medical School of the Abia State University.

The statement partly reads, “It is a big embarrassment that Abia State, hitherto a bastion of quality education in the past, has degenerated to this level of anomie, by the loss of accreditation of both the Polytechnic and the ABSU Medical College.

“We are, therefore, calling on the state government, to explain to the good people of Abia, what concrete steps are being taken to bring all those involved to account for this sad development in the education sector.

“The government should also, without delay, employ the services of one of the 5 top Audit Companies in the country, to carry out a forensic audit of both the Polytechnic in Aba and the Abia State University”.