The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has warned lecturers against diversion of intervention fund from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) for personnel use.
Mr Usman Dutse, the National President of ASUP gave the warning on Wednesday in Lafia at the 6th National Conference of the union.
According to him, some lecturers in the polytechnics are of the habit of diverting the intervention from TETFUND for further studies, buying of cars, lands and marrying more wives.
“This intervention is supposed to help develop human resources within our tertiary institutions for better service delivery, hence the need to use it for the purpose given,” he said.
Dutse also expressed dissatisfaction at the level of facilities and infrastructure development at the various polytechnics in the country and urged government to “stop paying lip service” to the development of education.
He said that most lecturers do not have befitting offices and equipment to carryout research and practical, in spite of the fact that polytechnics were supposed to be more practically oriented.
He therefore called on the Nasarawa State Government and other states to implement all outstanding promotion of staff and pay all outstanding arrears of their entitlements.
Mr Useni Paul, the Chairman ASUU, Nasarawa State Polytechnic Lafia, called on the state government to pay the pension and gratuity of retirees of the institutions that were facing hardship after retirement.
He said that government should increase allocation to schools and ensure accreditation of all programmes in the polytechnic.
Paul said that most programmes in the polytechnic had lost accreditation since September 2016 and urged the government to do something urgently as it presented the institution in bad light.
Responding, Dr Silas Gyar, the Rector, Nasarawa State Polytechnic, who chaired the occasion, said that the level of corruption in the institution called for concern.
He said that the management had set up machinery to check corruption among students, lecturers and the management staff.
Gyar, therefore, advised those in the habit of shortchanging the institution through dubious ways to desist or face disciplinary action.