It is often said that no one can give what he does not have. Can English Language teachers without a sound background in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teach ESP effectively in Nigerian Polytechnics? This research, using teachers of English in Auchi Polytechnic as subjects, was carried out to determine the characteristics and abilities of teachers of English in Nigerian Polytechnics. The data were sourced primarily using a questionnaire. A 30-point questionnaire was used to elicit responses from the 18 teachers in the Languages Department of Auchi Polytechnic. Frequencies and percentages were used to answer the research question while chi-square statistics was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The analyses showed that there is a significant relationship between the knowledge of ESP and characteristics and abilities of teachers of English. The study recommends that teachrs of English in Polytechnics should be encouraged to acquire higher qualifications in ESP, ESL or Applied Linguistics that can make them better teachers of ESP.