SAN FRANCISCO, June 14, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Maritime University proposed to be established in Okerenkoko in Warri South-West local government area of Delta State has sparked a disagreement between the Minister of Transport, Chibuike Amaechi and the Minister of state for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibeh Kachikwu.
This happened on Monday at the Federal Government town-hall meeting in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, where Amaechi defended the decision of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to scrap the project on the ground that the previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan had paid too much to acquire a land for the university.
It would be recalled that the groundbreaking of the proposed school at Okerenkoko was done by former President Jonathan in 2014. But addressing the Senate committee on maritime on January 19 this year, the Transport minister announced the scrapping of the project, which was to be financed by the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Administration Agency, NIMASA, a parastatal under his ministry.
Citing insecurity in the area, Amaechi said the project was a “misplacement of priority” as there are transport institutes in Zaria, Kaduna state, and Oron, Akwa Ibom state already.
However, the issue came up again in the form of a question thrown at the town hall meeting, where Amaechi responded by reiterating that the new government lacked the funds to continue with the university project.
According to him, “Okerenkoko (Maritime University), I am not against.
“My argument about Okerenkoko is that land alone is 13 billion(naira). If you give me 13 billion, I will buy the half of Lagos. That 13 billion has built the university already.”
He said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, should recover the N13 billion already paid for the land, then “I will build the university for them”.
The Minister continued, “What to do: let EFCC retrieve the Money and release the money and we build the university. If they bring the N13 billion, I will build the university for them. That’s for land alone. I believe the Federal Government does not have money. When we have money, we can continue. The minister of petroleum has said he would look for the money. Minister, give me the money and we continue.”
But the petroleum minister who hails from Delta state disagreed with Amaechi, a former Rivers governor, saying he was in support of the project. Kachikwu’s position attracted a loud applause from the audience.
“First, let me say on Okerenkoko University, I disagree with the Minister of Transport,” he said, adding that “any facility that is located in the South-South we should work close to developing it. I don’t care the circumstances under which you are placed.
“It’s not in my position to determine whether land was valued at 3 billion or 10 billion. The appropriate institution which is at the cost system will determine that. That has nothing to do with development of infrastructure. And as far as I know, so much has already gone into the university.
“So much physical of assets are being developed. We are not going to throw away the baby with bath water. We deal with the issues but the university will be developed. If he (Amaechi) does not want it in Maritime, I will take it in petroleum,” he said.
The minister of state later revealed that he was invited into the present government without ever meeting President Muhammadu Buhari, but by “recommendation and reputation”.
