FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF MARITIME STUDIES, ORON: MATTERS ARISING

By Uko Edet

Just few hours after Ikot Ekpene Senatorial district rolled out the drums to celebrate the empowerment package by Senator Godswill Akpabio, Akwa Ibom
people have another reason to rejoice as the Senate passed a bill to upgrade The Maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron to a degree awarding
institution.

The bill tagged “A BILL FOR AN ACT TO REPEAL THE MARITIME ACADEMY OF NIGERIA ACT CAP. 16
LAWS OF THE FEDERATION OF NIGERIA 1988; AND ESTABLISH FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF MARITIME STUDIES ORON, AND FOR RELATED MATTERS,”
sponsored by Nelson Effiong was read for the third time and passed by the senate, after the committee
on Tertiary institutions sat over it and gave its recommendations.

The senate in their official tweet had this to say; “The Federal University of Maritime Studies, Oron Bill, 2017 (SB. 309) is read the third time and
passed.”

“The Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki thanked those who worked on the Bill, saying that
Maritime is one important industry that needs development especially in areas of manpower and it will go a long way in creating jobs and other
opportunities for others.”

It will be recalled that the debate for a maritime university almost split the senate in two as south-
south senators disagreed bitterly over the siting of the Maritime University.

This followed a bill sponsored by Senator James Manager of Delta
State for the establishment of a Maritime University in Okorenke.

This move made very many Akwa
Ibom senators incensed as the state representation had already sent a bill seeking to upgrade the
Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron to a Federal University.

One could recall the passion with which the senate minority leader, Godswill Akpabio spoke on the
issue recounting the cost the state had put into upgrading the institution while he served as
governor, in particular, mentioning the sacrifice of the state in paying compensation for land to extend the capacity of the institution to carry more infrastructure.

The main call from Akwa Ibom senators was that the federal government will be spared the cost of rebuilding a university from scratch, and will benefit greatly from the upgrade as the school already has got a workable structure already, being the only maritime tertiary institution in the whole country.

This made the senate mandate the
committee on tertiary institutions to sit on it.

The committee sat to listen to both claims from Akwa Ibom and Delta considered so many options
like closeness to the continental shelf, infrastructure, and community acceptance. Akwa Ibom enjoyed all three.

Let me note here that the proposal for a maritime university at Okerenko had already thrown the Ijaw people of Delta against the
Itshekiri’s over who had a right of ownership to the school.

This bill that was submitted at the floor of the house since 2016 has been passed by the senate after a rigorous process. Re-echoing the
comments of the committee on tertiary institution at the senate on the upgrade of the university;

“There will be a significant improvement in the quality of maritime education and training in the academy if upgraded to a degree awarding institution.

It will save the nation the money spent annually to train Nigerian Cadets and Seafarers abroad.

It will not only equip us effectively support the sector industries with trained workforce, but also export our workforce to other countries.”

But it is surprising to read from some sections of the media the comments some apologist made
about the upgrade of the school, pitching the feat of the Eket senatorial representative against the
performance of the Ikot Ekpene senatorial representative.

It should be noted that sponsoring
a bill and doing constituency projects are two different functions a senator is expected to do. One is not lesser than the other.

It just shows the dilly dally that some mediocre minds can be engaged in just to score partisan sentiments.

It should be recalled that Senator Akpabio in his speech on the very day the bill was passed at his
constituency briefing was vocal about his support to the fight for the upgrade of the Maritime Academy to a Federal University.

If providence had made it that one could tell the future, maybe the
Senator, Akpabio, would have moved his constituency programme just to see one of his dreams come true.

Instead of focus on irrelevant facts like this one, we should focus on facts like; what is new about the
university? What will change? Let it read that the first objective of the Maritime University is “to
provide courses of instruction to various levels of personnel required for running and operating ships
of the merchant navy and also in marine technology, applied research, and applied marine sciences.”

There is even a provision to allow the school run post-graduate programmes. The new bill also saddles the school with powers to award degrees, fellowships, scholarships, exhibitions,
bursaries, medals, prizes and other titles.

Without redundancy it should be noted that the new bill only talks about the constitution of councils, boards and statutes, yet nothing is said about the students whom are currently in the school, what do they stand to gain or maybe loose, nothing is said about the academic
calendar, will the university still run as a regimented institution as before have not been discussed by the bill.
`These are the questions many people are interested in, and not necessarily who brought what home.

It should not matter the political party that brought it home if we are all for the Akwa Ibom project.

We should also remember there are other pending battles like the proposed federal polytechnic,
Ukana.

This should be a time we should press for more dividends as a state. The history of yesterday should not be hurriedly forgotten, if we fight over an institution that is yet to have even her first academic semester we will be a mockery even to the people of Okerenko.

It would be very improper if no credit goes to Senator Nelson Effiong. On this one he has done well, but as a people, I believe your constituency
is waiting to receive you when you bring this story of bravery back home.

Also support Senator Akpabio to win over the Senate to properly fund the
Federal Polytechnic, Ukana.