THE Centre for Peace and
Environmental Justice, CEPEJ, has condemned the scrapping of the Nigerian
Maritime University project in Okerenkoko, Warri South-West Local Government
Area of Delta State.
Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi
Amaechi, had said that the university which was said to have been proposed by
the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, would be
scrapped while all money spent on the project returned to the Federal
Government.
Similarly, a leader at
Okerenkoko, Warri South-West Local Council, Chief Michael Johnny, criticized
the purported scrapping of the Maritime University in the riverside community.
Chief Johnny said: “I am urging
the Minister of Transport to rescind his decision because it is not in the
interest of Okerenkoko people of Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State and even the
entire Niger Delta region.”
Also, the Ama-Okosu of Ogbe Ijoh, Warri Kingdom,
His Royal Majesty Couple Oromoni, Monbene II, National Coordinator of Host
Communities Producing Oil and Gas, Prince Maikpobi Okareme, Ijaw leader, Chief
Godspower Gbenekame, Okerenkoko leader, Chief Michael Johnny and others have
asked the minister to rescind the decision.
HRM Oromoni said, “You (Amaechi)
cannot scrap the university in Okerenkoko. Why is the government scrapping it?
There is no reason for it to scrap the school. Assuming President Muhammadu
Buhari sets up a university in the North and his tenure elapsed, does that
warrant scrapping the institution.
“Amaechi, who is saying no one
will go there to school, is Port-Harcourt safer than Delta State. Port Harcourt is more porous, security wise,
than Delta. Amaechi is trying to create more problems in this country. Are
there no security problems in where the minister comes from? With all the
security problems in Port Harcorut, has it stopped people from schooling there?
“We are not asking Amaechi to
send his children to the university, there are parents, who are very much
interested in sending their children there to school.
“Scrapping the school will not
help the current under development of the Niger Delta region. The Maritime
University at Okerenkoko is synonymous with peace and development of the
region. Our children will go there to school. We say the region is not
developed and someone brought school to develop the area, they are saying it is
scrapped, it is unacceptable to our people.”
Chief Gbenekame on his part,
asked, “Are we Nigerians? The Ijaws of Niger Delta, the Ijaws of Gbaramatu, are
we Nigerians? The Niger Delta people are they Nigerians? I am surprised.
Unfortunately, the minister that sold the idea is a Niger Deltan.”
National Coordinator of the Host
Communities Producing Oil and Gas, Prince Okareme, in chat with Vanguard, urged
Amaechi, to rescind the decision.
He said: “If the problem is the
terrain as the minister claimed, then he can relocate it to another Ijaw area
in Delta State or preferably, the Delta School of Marine Technology, Bomadi should
be taken over by the Federal Government.
“They say a man’s enemies are
those from his own household. It is very unfortunate that this decision is not
just from the minister. It is a decision taken by Federal Government. They
should look at this decision and reverse it.”
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