The Oro Youths Movement (OYOM) has registered its displeasure over the appointment of a Rector for the Maritime Academy of Nigeria by the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi.
The group through its President, Victor Mkpofor, said the appointment of the Rector at a time when the bill for the upgrading of the institution was awaiting presidential assent was a signal that the federal government was insincere about the upgrading of the institution.
“The appointment of Commodore Duji, a retired Naval officer, at a time when the bill for the upgrading of the academy to a university is awaiting the president’s assent shows federal government insincerity to upgrade the institution, ” Mkpofor.
Ha argued that the what the institution needed at that moment was a professor as Rector, who would midwife the transition of the institution to University of Maritime Studies as passed by the National Assembly.
He added: “Now that the bill for the upgrading of the academy to a university has passed all the readings at the National Assembly and is awaiting the president’s assent, the Oro people are asking for a substantive Rector who must be a professor who knows much about university management to be appointed Rector.”
He condemned the appointment of a 6- man Interim Management Committee (IMC) to manage the affairs of the academy for the next six months saying “the appointment is unnecessary since the institution already has a functional management team.”
According to him the Act establishing the institution did not make provision for Interim Management Committee as introduced by the Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi.
He said for the past 40 years the institution had operated an internal management team which had the Rector as chairman and the registrar as secretary while other top management staff were members.
“The appointment of a Transition Management Committee and Rector is not only wasteful but illegal,” he added
Mkpofor disclosed that the youths of Oro nation had resolved not to allow the new Rector, Commodore Effedua and the Interim Management Committee member access to the academy for the purpose of carrying out any administrative functions.
“If Amaechi feels he must appoint a Rector for the academy then he must get a professor from Oro extraction to manage the institution even if he is in acting capacity.
“Since 1977 when the school was established, no Oro son or daughter has ever been found qualified enough to be appointed as Rector. Only one Engineer Bassey was appointed Rector in acting capacity. He was there for only two months and was thrown away,” the youth leader recalled.
He disclosed that the host communities had donated 100 hectares of their farmland to the institution to enable it satisfy the requirements of National University Commission (NUC), yet the Ministry of Transport was denying them the opportunity of having it upgraded.
