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CROSS RIVER, Nigeria —The House of Representatives Committee on Polytechnics and Other Higher Technical Education has questioned the Federal Polytechnic, Ugep, Cross River State, following spending amounted to N600m on personnel salaries and overhead despite having only 142 students.
Chairman of the committee, Fouada Laguda expressed dismay over the N38m spent on local travels.
The institution’s Rector, Edward Okey, who appeared before the committee to defend its 2024 budget performance said the polytechnic used its N2bn take-off grant to renovate dilapidated structures of the Ugep Community Secondary School, which served as its temporary campus.
According to him, “Our school was established in 2021. When we went to Ugep, we were supposed to start at a temporary site in the State Polytechnic called the Institute of Technology and Management, but that did not work.
“We eventually identified a site at the Ugep Community Secondary School. The buildings there had been abandoned for 25 years. Renovating those buildings took over a year,” the rector said.
He added that part of the grant was used to initiate 10 projects at the institution’s permanent site, which are currently at various stages of completion.
Reacting to his defence, a committee member described the spending as “wasteful” and “unsustainable,” questioning the justification for such high expenditure relative to the student population.
“Your personnel cost is nearly N500m, and overhead is N159m for just 142 students. This is unacceptable,” the member remarked.
Meanwhile, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics, on Tuesday, expressed disappointment over the Federal Government’s delay in paying November salaries to employees of federal polytechnics and related institutions nationwide.
In a statement signed by its National President, Philip Ogunsipe, SSANIP cited financial hardship and the prevailing economic challenges affecting members performance.
“Timely salary payments are not just essential but critical for the sustenance of our members and their families. This unwarranted delay has imposed severe financial hardships, further exacerbating the already difficult living conditions faced by Nigerian workers,” Ogunsipe stated.
The union attributed the delay to ongoing payroll system migration from the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System across tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
“There has been no transfer of staff records to facilitate the migration, and essential human capital required to oversee this process remains unfulfilled, leaving institutions in disarray,” the statement noted.
SSANIP called on the Minister of Finance and the Accountant-General of the Federation to address the issue urgently, urging them to reassure increasingly agitated workers.
