Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, on Tuesday, confirmed Dr Okorie Kalu Osonwa, the acting Rector Abia State Polytechnic, Aba as the institution’s substantive Rector.
He has also approved the appointments of principal officers of the Polytechnic.
Oriaku Chinyere has been appointed the institution’s Registrar while Omenihu Friday will serve as Bursar and Ndulaka Chigozie, the Polytechnic’s Librarian. Nwogu Jude was also confirmed as the Director of Works Services.
Governor Ikpeazu announced the appointments when he received the chairman and members of the Governing Council of the institution who were in Government House, Umuahia to present the reports of the Council on the selection of the Polytechnic’s principal officers.
He disclosed that the appointment was in tandem with the recommendations of the Governing Council, chaired by Elder John Nwagborogwu, a former Deputy of Chief of Staff to Abia Governor.
The Governor said he was passionate about moving the Polytechnic to its permanent site, as well as looking for ways to ensure academic stability in the institution.
Ikpeazu charged the institution to remain consistent and stable in order to bring in more students, as well as to start programmes that are relevant to the yearnings of those in their catchment area.
He advised the Polytechnic to look for ways to maintain industrial harmony and peace.
The Abia State Governor tasked the institution’s Board and Management to devise means of attracting funds independently through local and international support grants.
Earlier in his speech, while presenting the reports, the Chairman, Governing Council of the Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, Elder John Nwangborogwu, identified lack of due process in appointing principal officers as a factor contributing to the challenges bedeviling the institution.
The council chairman stated that they followed due process by advertising the positions of principal officers and subsequently interviewing them.
Nwangborogwu who used the medium to report to Governor Ikpeazu on their intervention on the protest which students of the Abia polytechnic embarked upon, explained that it was done because of the alleged rape of one of their female students by a police officer and not for any other issue as peddled by some people.
