Amaechi’s dangerous proposition

Love him or hate him, Rotimi Amaechi, former Rivers state Governor and Minister of Transportation, is a bold and fearless politician who loves controversy and is not afraid to stir up one anytime anywhere. Indeed, between him and Ayo Fayose, Ekiti state Governor, the jury is still out on who among both men is more controversial. But this piece is really about Amaechi, not Fayose. The transportation minister is stirring another controversy which, if not well-managed, will disturb the current relative peace being enjoyed in the Niger Delta region aside portending danger to the country as a whole.

Now, what am I talking about? If you are a good follower of news, you wouldn’t have missed the story. On Wednesday, Amaechi appeared before the Senate Committee on Maritime Transport to brief the panel headed by Senator Ahmed Sani on the activities of the agencies under his supervision. During the briefing, he disclosed that the Nigerian Maritime University project in Okerenkoko community in Warri South-West local government area of Delta state, which was proposed by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and started by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, “is a waste of resources” and may be scrapped. One of Amaechi’s arguments is that ‘no one will attend the university.’

Hear him: “Who will attend the university? How many parents will allow their children to go to such place where it proposes to site the university? What is the aim of the university that we cannot achieve in Oron where they have the entire necessary infrastructure?”

To reinforce his point of view, the minister also adds: “I don’t think we are proceeding with the university being proposed by NIMASA because it is a waste of resources, and unfortunately a lot of money has already been released for the university project. There is no structure on ground but just the feasibility study.”

As Amaechi’s proposition was being digested after it came out in the news, it didn’t take long before reactions followed especially from those likely to be the most affected by the decision if the federal government goes ahead to implement it.

Mackson Oromoni, a traditional ruler and the AMA-OKOSU of Ogbe-Ijoh Warri Kingdom, in his reaction, frontally accused Amaechi of attempting to create problems in the country.  The monarch said the establishment of the maritime university in Okerenkoko would bring development to the area, and that rather than scrapping the university as suggested by Amaechi, the federal government should investigate allegations of corruption raised by the minister.

“There is no reason for the federal government to scrap the school. Assuming President 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? Are there no security problems where the minister comes from? Security wise, Port is more porous than Delta. With all the security problems in Port Harcourt, has it stopped people from schooling there?

“We are not asking Amaechi to send his children there to school, but there are parents who are very much interested to send 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, now they are saying it should be scrapped? That’s unacceptable to our people! If there is a school in the riverine area, those who cannot go to the far north will come here to school. I appeal to Mr. President to continue with the school because it is a good initiative,” the monarch painstakingly explained.

Now, beyond sentiments, I believe it is important for us to critically examine the issues raised by the minister as well as the counter-ones raised by the traditional ruler on behalf of his people in drawing a fair conclusion and taking a reasonable position on this delicate matter.

On Amaechi’s first question about those who will attend the university, I believe many Nigerian youths especially those in the Niger Delta will be more than excited to attend the school. Why do I say so? Their desire and anticipation for the institution to take off was clear for all to see when former President Goodluck Jonathan performed its ground-breaking ceremony on May 10, 2014. I recall that several thousands of young people from Gbaramatu Kingdom including those from the Niger Delta in Oporoza, War­ri South West Local Govern­ment Area, Delta State, trooped out in large numbers to give the former President a grand reception for the initiative. For them, it was another bold step towards addressing the educational disadvantage of the Niger Deltans, even as it is an avenue to build and develop requisite capacities for the maritime sector of the Nigerian economy.

Concerning the minister’s second question on how many parents will allow their children to go to such place where the university is sited, I believe Amaechi has clearly not been following the statistics provided by the National Universities Commission (NUC) or the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board (JAMB) in recent years. Sincerely, it is clear that the minister underestimates the desire for university education among the youths and the extent to which some of them are ready to go. And neither does he seem to realise the precarious situation Nigeria’s educational sector is in currently, where the spaces available at our tertiary institutions are clearly not able to accommodate our young people who seek admission every year but have to wait at home for another year or years even when they have the required admissions scores. Even, how many parents are happy with this?

Moreover, is the opportunity foreign universities offer to Nigerian students not one of the reasons why many of our youths go abroad to further their education, even to neighbouring countries like Republic of Benin and Ghana even though it comes with additional costs? I believe many parents, especially those in the geo-political zone, would gladly have their children go to the institution beyond the minister’s imagination.

“What is the aim of the university that we cannot achieve in Oron where they have the entire necessary infrastructure?” Amaechi also asked. Now, I’m surprised that the minister would feign ignorance about the clear answers to his own question since the mandates of both institutions are quite different.

While the maritime academy was set up by the federal government in 1979 as an integrated institution for the education and training of shipboard officers and ratings shore-based management personnel, the Nigerian Maritime University, on its part, was set up to provide the human capacity required for the maritime sector in ad­dition to serving as a research and knowledge centre.

Meanwhile, part of what Jonathan did when he went to flag-off the university in 2014 was to perform the ground-breaking of NIMASA Dock­yard and Shipyard facility, also situated at Okerenkoko, which is ex­pected to build and maintain various sizes of vessels while also complementing the objectives of the institution. The maritime university isn’t meant to be a conventional one. Like universities on agriculture or technology, it’s a specialised institution which can also attract students and researchers from outside Nigeria and earn the country foreign exchange.

Now, which tertiary institution in Nigeria has its ‘entire necessary infrastructure’ in place as Amaechi would want us to believe?

I’m quite aware that part of the reservations the minister has with the maritime university is the process through which the land upon which it is situated was procured. He believes the process was terribly fraught with fraud. But then, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is already addressing this. The commission, on Friday, filed 22 fresh charges at a Federal High Court in Lagos which bother on stealing, advanced fee fraud and money laundering to the tune of N22.7 billion against the former Director-General of NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi, and an ex-Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as Tompolo, including others like Akpobolokemi’s four brothers – Victor, Nobert, Emmanuel and Clement, who are still at large.

Specifically, in count two of the charge sheet signed by Festus Keyamo, the EFCC alleges that the suspects between December 2, 2014 and April 10, 2015 in Lagos, defrauded the Federal Government of Nigeria of the aggregate sum of N11, 900,000,000.00 by falsely pretending to the government that all the land at the Mieka Dive Training Institute, Kurutie, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, which was to be acquired by NIMASA for the temporary Campus of the Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko, Warri South-West Local Government Area, was free from any encumbrances, though they knew this representation to be false, thereby committing an offence contrary to Section (1) (b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1 (3) of the same Act.

I believe the minister’s fears are already being taken care of. So, while the government is right to investigate acts of corruption and illegality by the accused persons so that they face the consequences of their actions if found guilty, I believe this ought not to stop the benefits of the school to the people. It’s good to probe but it doesn’t call for scrapping the institution.

And to those who ask if only setting up a university is all there is to development, or believe that rather than setting up new ones, it is better to upgrade existing universities and make them world-class institutions instead of the many ‘glorified secondary schools’ we have around, I admit that setting up a university is certainly not all there is to development but the corruption involved in setting up the university in this instance is what I think everyone of us must demand investigation and prosecution for rather than calling for the project’s outright termination.

I believe we must provide as many frontiers and opportunities as possible for actualising this laudable goal. Meanwhile, there are private companies and rich individuals in Nigeria and even in the South-south geopolitical zone who would be interested in donating buildings or assisting in providing infrastructure in the school. Is the Honourable Minister thinking along this line?

Honestly, I find it extremely worrisome and indeed scandalous that a man as Amaechi who understands the situation in the Niger Delta would be the one to mouth such dangerous proposition. Really, should we be sowing seeds that would germinate social unrest and conflict rather than those which would bring forth progress and development?

With the Nigerian military yet to completely eradicate militancy in the Niger Delta, Amaechi’s idea, for me, is risky, dangerous and would do more harm than good to our country. Or are we cursed and sentenced to perpetual tension and unrest as a country?

Boko Haram, although significantly decimated, still springs some surprise attacks. Even if the Buhari government is getting ready to effectively quell any form of militancy in the Niger Delta creeks, will it be an easy task? Will Nigerian soldiers not be lost? Will lives of innocent citizens not also go for it? Will some of these youths not work as saboteurs and spoilers by vandalizing oil and gas pipelines? And will that in any way help our national interest and cohesion?

Moreover, with the South-South pitching its tent with the PDP and not the APC in the last elections, it would only reinforce the perception that President Buhari is really not interested in pursuing an all-inclusive government that spreads development across the country. This is even aside the fact that there have been fears in the Niger Delta before now that Buhari’s government might actually scuttle the commencement of the university especially since it didn’t take off as initially proposed at its temporary site in Kurutie, Warri South-West LGA of Delta state last September.

That is why I honestly think Amaechi should be more interested in ways of expanding access to knowledge as well as aiding development in the Niger Delta, which remains embarrassingly underdeveloped, rather than trying to limit it like he tried to do with his statement at the senate.

In conclusion, I agree that corruption must be investigated and those found guilty punished. But the future of youths in the Niger Delta and their access to tertiary education must not be sacrificed on the altar of fighting corruption no matter what. The minister must not throw away the baby with the bath water. Beyond the immediate benefits it would bring to those in the area, it’s also in Nigeria’s long-term interest for the maritime university to stay. I believe we shouldn’t turn it into another abandoned federal government project like the scandalous thousands we have across the country after huge resources have already been spent.

O’Femi Kolawole, an award-winning journalist and author, is Publisher/CEO of POSTERITY MEDIA, a Nigerian publishing company based in Lagos. You can follow him on twitter:  @ofemigan