Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, has been shut over non-payment of eight months arrears of salaries owed workers of the institution.
The Academic Union of Polytechnics, ASUP and its affiliate unions in the state owned institution on Monday, prevented members of the school’s Governing Council from gaining entrance into the school premises, leading to a heavy gridlock on the busy Aba-Owerri road.
Some of the workers bore placards which read; “We are not slaves, we deserved to live, You must pay us our 8 months salaries, This is sheer wickedness and injustice, No money, but you have N2, 000, 000 to go to Abuja, Pay us our salaries, No more Council, change management in Abia Poly, Living is better than caskets, Another death has occurred on Saturday.”
A detachment of Police has been deployed to the gate of the institution. Vanguard gathered that it was the same situation at the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, ABSUTH, Aba, where workers also protested the nonpayment of over 7 months arrears of salary owed them. Chairman, ASUP, Abia Polytechnic, Aba, Comrade Precious Nwakodo, flanked by leaders of various staff unions in the institution said that they were at the gate of the school to express their grievance over the attitude of the institution’s management who they alleged are owing workers over seven months arrears of arrears.
Nwakodo lamented that about three of their members have died as a result of non-payment of salaries by the school management and the inability of the workers to have access to medical treatment as they could not afford medical bills. He accused the management of the institution of being insensitive to the plight of the workers. According to Nwakodo, while some workers are owed for 7 months (June to Dec), others are owed for 8 months (May to Dec). “The union wanted to meet with the Council today and we sent notices on Friday that we will be meeting with them to know what they are doing about our salaries and the next thing we heard on the radio is that the institution has been shutdown, wishing us merry X-mass and because of that, we said that since the school has been shutdown, that nobody will enter the school to sit for any meeting and get away with sitting allowances since there is paucity of funds that has stopped them from paying our salaries.
In an interview with journalists, Rector of the institution, Prof. Martin Iheanacho said the management of the institution was working round the clock to resolve situation, stressing that they were going to pay the workers as soon as the funds are made available. Iheanacho pleaded with the workers to rescind their actions and assured that they were going to have a meeting with the governor over the issue.