N29bn Scholarship Funds: Rivers Assembly Orders Arrest of PAMO University VC

The Rivers State House of Assembly has ordered the arrest of the Vice Chancellor of PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Port Harcourt, over his repeated failure to appear before a committee investigating billions of naira in scholarship funds allegedly disbursed to the institution by the state government.

The House gave the order during Friday’s plenary, presided over by the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, following the presentation and consideration of the report of an ad hoc committee probing the disbursement and utilisation of the funds.

The committee, headed by the Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol, had invited the university’s Vice Chancellor several times to provide explanations on how funds released under the state’s scholarship scheme were spent.

The Assembly said the VC failed to honour the invitations despite an extended deadline for his appearance before the committee on Thursday, September 24.

According to a statement issued by the Speaker’s Special Assistant on Media, Martins Wachukwu, the committee’s report revealed that PAMO University had received more than N29bn from the Rivers State Government since 2017, despite what the committee described as a lack of corresponding student enrolment.

The House also alleged discrepancies among documents submitted by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education and the Office of the Accountant-General concerning the funds.

Advertisement

Amaewhule said the documents indicated that of the more than N29bn released to the university, only about N5bn had been utilised.

The Speaker said the Assembly would pursue the matter to ensure accountability, stressing that no individual was above the institution of the legislature.

The House subsequently urged the Rivers State Government to establish a committee to recover all unaccounted funds allegedly in the possession of PAMO University and remit them to the state’s Consolidated Revenue Account.

The Assembly had earlier removed N6bn earmarked for PAMO University from the state’s N1.84tn 2026 budget before presenting the budget to Governor Siminalayi Fubara for assent on September 3. The governor subsequently assented to the budget.

PAMO University of Medical Sciences is owned by former Rivers State Governor, Dr Peter Odili, who also serves as its Pro-Chancellor.

Advertisement