By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
Hard times await contractors who have failed to complete projects awarded to them at Maritime Academy Oron (MAN) as the House of Representatives Committee on Maritime Safety, Education and Administration has vowed to investigate all contracts from inception of the institution.
The committee also resolved to summon the leadership of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) over failure to remit the statutory five per cent allocation to the academy for over a year now.
The resolutions followed a presentation by the Rector of the Academy, Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua (rtd), before the committee members who were on oversight function to the Academy at Oron, Akwa Ibom State on Thursday.
Speaking during the interactive session, 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 every Kobo collected to serve as a deterrent to others.
Hon Ibrahim who was represented by the Vice Chairman of the Committee, Hon Uduak Ududoh, said that the committee would write to the institution on getting back to Abuja, adding that the practice of abandonment of projects after tax payers 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 and so, when we get back to Abuja, we will meet as a Committee and mandate the clerk to the institution because we cannot continue this way. They (contractors) are Nigerians, and if they have opportunity, they will embezzle the money and abandon the projects. So, when we get back we will look at this things, it is Nigeria money that is involved”
The Chairman also mandated the Rector to expose those staff behind the leakages he talked about in his presentation, adding that if they are not exposed and appropriate action not 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 has not being paid for upward of one year and therefore resolved to summon agency’s leadership before it.
The Rector had, in his presentation before the committee, lamented the state of infrastructure decay in the academy, adding that the “situation was such that the the International Maritime Organisation threatened to delist Nigeria as a place where Maritime students should be trained”
He added that this happened because people who had the opportunity of running the affairs of the institution were chasing mundane things.
