September 16, 2020
By Ijendu Iheaka
Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has said that Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu’s renewed effort to discuss issues of Abia Polytechnic with the body inspires hope for implementation of resolutions reached.
Mr Anderson Ezeibe, National President, ASUP, disclosed this in an interview with our Correspondent in Aba on Wednesday.
Ezeibe said although past committees empaneled to resolve problems in the institution did not bring lasting solution to Abia Polytechnic’s challenges, the new effort is expected to bear fruit.
“As a trade Union, we are not unaware of what has been happening in Abia State Polytechnic; we are fully in the picture.
“But one good thing is that there seems to be a renewed commitment on the part of the governor to depart from the current trend of not taking desired actions in the institution.
“You know how this came about is that we took them to the Human Rights Commission, so this is some of the outcomes.
“We think that this mini conference which the governor will be its chairman, will give all the parties opportunity to very sincerely interrogate our roles in this crisis and proffer solutions collectively.
“As an academic Union, we should not stop at identifying challenges, we should also come to the table with models for resolution on a sustainable basis.
“We believe the government is committed to its citizens welfare; I can say we don’t have a choice than to give the government the benefit of the doubt that it will do the needful and at the end, whatever we resolved, they will commit to implementation”, he said.
Ezeibe said that another point raising ASUP’s hopes of a productive meeting is that it is the national body of the Union that is anchoring the conference with the state governor present.
He said although ASUP took the matter to National Human Rights Commission, (NHRC), it is open to other means of reaching resolutions like this meeting to proffer sustainable solutions.
Ezeibe said that the major issues to be deliberated upon will include the levels of governance at the Management, the Governing Council and the state government which is affecting the institution’s progress.
“Irrespective of the amount of money you push into the system, as long as there are issues at the respective levels of governance, you may just be pouring water into a basket.
“The critical issue among all the issues is that of governance at all these levels because that is what brought us to this point in Abia a Polytechnic.
“And then the issue of funding model; you have to develop a funding model that will be sustainable, that will help the institution to get appropriate funding.
“Such funding that will meet its overhead cost and its personnel cost needs.These are the two issues that we would be going to the discussion table with,” he said.
Past committees set up by Ikpeazu’s administration to resolve the issues troubling the institution had failed to produce a lasting solution.
However, some of their recommendations which resulted in the sack of some staff members of the institution resulted in court litigation against the state government by affected staff members
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