March 08, (THEWILL) – The House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration has resolved to investigate contractors who abandoned projects 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 (NIMISA) over the failure to remit the statutory 5% allocation to the Academy for over one year.
The resolutions came on the heels of 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 Chairman of the Committee, Khadijah Bukar Abba Ibrahim, said all contractors who abandoned projects from the inception of the institution would be investigated and made to account for monies collected to serve as a deterrent to others.
Hon Ibrahim, who was represented by the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Hon Uduak Ududoh (PDP, Akwa Ibom), said that the committee would write to the institution on getting back to Abuja, stating that the practice of abandoning projects after taxpayers money had been paid must not be allowed to continue.
“We will look back to investigate the projects even from the inception of the school. So, when we get back to Abuja, we will meet as a committee and mandate the Clerk to write the institution because we cannot continue this way. They (contractors) are Nigerians, and if they have the opportunity, they will embezzle the money and abandon the projects. So, when we get back we will look at these things,” she said.
The Chairman also mandated the Rector to expose those staff behind the leakages he mentioned in his presentation, adding that if they are not exposed and appropriate action is taken against them, it would not serve as a deterrent to others.
“You also talked about leakages, most of the leakages that happened did not happen outside but inside and I am very sure that most of the staff you came to inherit are still in this institution. You have to expose them because if you don’t expose them and appropriate action is not taken against them, it will not serve as a deterrent to others,” the committee chairman stated.
The committee expressed sadness that the statutory 5% allocation from NIMASA was not being paid for upward of one year and therefore resolved to summon the agency’s leadership before it.
In his presentation before the committee, the Rector lamented the state of infrastructural decay in the academy, saying that the “situation was such that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) had threatened to delist MAN as a training place for Maritime students”.
He added that this happened because people who had the opportunity of running the affairs of the institution were more interested in mundane things.
About the Author
