Don't Cancel Maritime University - Ijaw Youths Beg Buhari

      

The open letter was jointing signed by Udengs Eradiri, the president of the group and its spokesman, Eric Omare.The minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, had while briefing the Senate committee on Marine Transport proposed the cancellation of the school.

Amaechi had said that the institution was surplus to requirement thus there was no need of starting it in the first place saying: “We are not going ahead with the university project proposed by NIMASA because we have an institution in Oron, we have Nigeria Institute of Transport Technology, Zaria, and we have the Nigerian College of Aviation in Zaria, which we could upgrade to a University status and NIMASA is proposing to build a new one.”

The Ijaw youths cautioned Buhari not to listen to Ameachi’s argument for the cancellation of the institution noting that his reasons for such action are not only weak but highly provocative and inciting to say the least.

Below is the full text of the letter:

His Excellency,
Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR,
President and Commander in Chief,
Federal Republic of Nigeria,
Aso Rock Villa, Abuja.
Your Excellency Sir,

PROPOSED CANCELLATION OF MARITIME UNIVERSITY, OKERENKOKO, DELTA STATE

Your Excellency, we write to protest against the ‘proposed cancellation’ of the Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Delta State as announced by the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi while briefing the Senate Committee on Marine Transport about the activities of his Ministry on Tuesday, the 19th of January, 2016.

According to the Minister: ‘We are not going ahead with the university project proposed by NIMASA because we have an institution in Oron, we have Nigeria Institute of Transport Technology, Zaria, and we have the Nigerian College of Aviation in Zaria, which we could upgrade to a University status and NIMASA is proposing to build a new one’.

Mr. Amaechi is not finished yet, he went further to state: ‘Who will attend the University? How many parent will allow their children to go to such place where it propose to site the University?…’
Mr. President, the reasons advanced by your Minister of Transportation are not only weak, mischievous and misleading, but also highly provocative and inciting. If there is any statement or action that has painted your administration in negative light in Nigeria, especially in the Niger Delta region, it is this statement.

Beyond the fact that the university would greatly contribute to the development of high class manpower in the maritime sector in the light of your administration’s efforts to diversify the nation’s economy beyond oil; it would also go a long way to address the aged long marginalization suffered by the people of the Niger Delta Region. The university would no doubt open up the area where it is sited which is in the hinterland of the Niger Delta and help in positively impacting on the life of the people of the area concerned, especially the youths. We cannot be talking of addressing problems of militancy and other associated challenges in the Niger Delta region without giving the people education.

ijaw-udengs-eradiriThe Maritime University, Okerenkoko is part of the post amnesty development plan of the Niger Delta region. The reasons advanced by the Minister for wishing to cancel the university are not tenable. The fact that there are maritime institutes in Zaria and Oron should not be used as excuse to cancel the university at Okerenkoko. The existing institutes in Zaria and Oron and the university in Okerenkoko have their different roles to play in the development of the very rich but underdeveloped maritime sector in Nigeria. The institutes in Oron and Zaria are meant to train medium class manpower in the maritime sector while the Maritime University, Okerenkoko would train world class technical and managerial manpower.

This would obviously address the problems of capital flight in Nigeria where Nigerians are sent to universities in countries like Philippines, Romania, Egypt and other countries to train at great cost to the country. The existing institutes and university are expected to play complimentary roles in the development of the maritime sector. If this was not the case, then Polytechnics would not have being existing side by side with universities in Nigeria and most importantly, the Petroleum Training Institute, Efffurun, Delta State would no longer exist for the training of medium class manpower in the oil and gas sector with the establishment of the University of Petroleum Resources, Ugbomro, Delta State.