Reps vow to probe abandoned maritime academy projects
The House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration has resolved to investigate all projects abandoned by contractors at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, Akwa Ibom State.
It also resolved to summon the leadership of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency over five per cent allocation to the Academy, which it noted is not being remitted as and when due.
The resolutions followed a presentation by the Rector of the Academy, Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua (retd.) before the committee on oversight function to the Academy on Thursday.
The Rector had, in his presentation before the committee which was held at the conference hall of the Nautical Building, lamented the state of infrastructural decay at the academy, adding that the situation was so bad that the International
Effedua who said he was a cadet added, “I was shocked to know that the academy collapsed, it collapsed people were chasing mundane issues, instead of training. The International Maritime Organisation threatened to delist Nigeria as a place where maritime students should be trained because it thought the academy no longer had the clout to train people.
“The Nigerian government also asked for a favour, you come and identify the problems of the Academy and let us know the way forward and also give us time. So, the federal government set up an interim management committee which comprised renowned Nigerians and people who have worked in the maritime industry for a long time I was appointed as the acting rector and later coopted to work with the committee for six months.”
Reacting to the presentation during the interactive session, the chairman of the committee, Khadijah Ibrahim, said all contractors who abandoned projects from the inception of the institution would be investigated and made to account for every Kobo collected to serve as a deterrent to others.
Ibrahim who was represented by the vice chairman of the committee, Uduak Ududoh (PDP, Akwa Ibom), noted that the committee would write to the institution on getting back to Abuja, adding that the practice of abandonment of projects after taxpayers’ money had been paid must not be allowed to continue.
