- The Rector emphasized the critical state of infrastructural decay at the academy
The House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education, and Administration has decided to investigate the abandoned projects by contractors at the Maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron, Akwa Ibom State.
Additionally, the committee will summon the leadership of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) concerning the non-remittance of the allocated five per cent to the Academy.
These resolutions were made after the Rector, Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua (retd.), presented the academy’s infrastructural challenges during the committee’s oversight function on Thursday at the Nautical Building’s conference hall.
The Rector emphasized the critical state of infrastructural decay at the academy.
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.