By Isaac Anumihe
Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has listed job creation, human capital development as part of the reason it was backing establishment by the Federal Government benefits of Nigerian Maritime University (NMU).
In a statement, the Head, Corporate Communications of the NIMASA, Isichei Osamgbi, said that the Federal Government was committed to the actualisation of the project which was conceived by the agency, noting that NIMASA was supporting every aspect of the law in its determination to fulfill its obligations.
“In addition, the National Assembly recently held a public hearing on the matter and it is expected that the funding of the institution and other aspects of running it will be specified in the act setting up the university” he said.
He, however, used the occasion to deny allegations by the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) to the effect that NIMASA was opposed to the establishment of the Maritime University at Okerenkoko, in Warri South West Local Government Area of Delta State.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday, May 10, 2014, flagged off Nigeria’s first maritime university. Jonathan also performed the groundbreaking for the commencement of the construction work in the university’s permanent site, located at Okerenkoko, both in Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State.
Recall that the NIMASA sponsores maritime studies in four Nigerian universities – University of Lagos; University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Niger Delta University, Amasoma, Bayelsa State; and Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, Niger State; while the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron continues to enjoy the agencies even outside the statutory funding requirement as enshrined in the NIMASA Act 2007.