ABIA STATE: TENSION IN ASCETA, AS MGT. BEGINS MASS RETRENCHMENT OF STAFF

Report reaching Abia Facts Newspaper, has it that the management of Abia State College of Education [Technical] Arochukwu [ASCETA] has embarked on retrenchment of some of its workforce who were appointed without due confirmation.

According to the a source, staff of the institution employed between 2012, 2013 and 2014 respectively but were not duly and properly confirmed by the appropriate authorities are set to be shown the way out.

The source further explained that at the moment in the School, they lots of heightened tension, following a panel which was set up by the Provost of the College Dr. Philip Nto to investigate the matter, stressing that the move became imperative so as to downsize the workforce to enable the institution pay their huge backlog of salaries and areas being owe to staff of the college which is running close to twenty four months.

Corroborating the story in a telephone interview, the Student Union President of the College Comrade Okereke Samuel Okoro  explained that the directive was sequel to an Ad hoc committee set up by the Abia State House of Assembly to see ways by which staff of the institution could be paid their outstanding salaries owe them.

He hinted that as a Public Institution, it was proper for an employed staff of the College to be confirmed after a year or two but that in this situation, some of them have stayed in their respective job between six to seven years without confirmation, adding that the exercise was necessary so as to separate the real staff from the ghost workers among them.

The Student Union leader however lamented that there are other ways the management could have gone about it instead of the abrupt termination of their appointment, as the affected persons have all seen it as an act of victimization by both the management of the Institution and the government.