President Muhammadu Buhari has declined assent to a bill seeking the establishment of Nigeria Maritime University in Okerenkoko Delta State.
In a letter conveyed to the Senate on Thursday, Mr Buhari cited the proposed source of funding for the institution as the major reason for his decline.
“I am declining my assent to the bill because the funding provisions are grossly excessive and will disrupt the operation of a number of government agencies and institutions,” the letter reads.
He added that: “Section 11 a and g and sections 12 and 13 (1, 2 and 3) conflict with mandate and functions of the National Universities’ Commission”
Yesterday’s development elicits anxiety following the recent matriculation of new intakes into the university. This is apart from Billions of Naira that had already been sunk into the school.
While, speaking during the recent matriculation, which held at the Kurutie campus of the institution in Warri South-West local Government Area, the Acting Governor of Delta State, Kingsley Otuaro, had said that, the people of Niger Delta people were on same page with President Muhammadu Buhari on the university project.
Otuaro said the “actualisation of the Nigerian Maritime University was a collective aspiration of Ijaw and Niger Delta people”.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented at the event by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta, Edobor Iyamu, had said the Nigerian Maritime University reflected President Buhari’s core vision to rewrite the story of the neglected Niger Delta region.
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