A member of the Nigeria Merchant Navy Officers and Water Transport Senior Staff Association, Mr. Adams Asuquo Pius has petitioned the Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibot Ette Ibas and the Inspector General of Police; Ibrahim Idris for the alleged illegal closure of his academy; Merchant Seaman Academy by men of the Nigerian Navy.
The Navy had allegedly invaded and shut down the academy in February 2017, describing it as a mushroom school and a proscribed institution.
In the four-paged petition which was made available to Shipping Position Daily last week, the merchant navy association member, through his lawyer, Jiti Ogunleye Chambers alleged that the academy situated in Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State was invaded on 9th of February 2017 by officers of the Nigerian Navy Jubilee, Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom and among other things destroyed properties belonging to the school, molested staff and students of the school and shut down its operations.
Pius also alleged that he and his wife were detained from 9th February, 2017 to 14th February, 2017 with the complicity of the officers of the Nigerian Police Force.
The petition to the CNS and the Police boss reads in part : "our client believes that the invasion of the school and the associated violations of his rights were based on your instructions or at the very least, enjoy your after the fact endorsement. If not so, why should it be necessary to seek your permission to re-open our client’s school".
Pius and his attorneys by the petition demanded that the academy be fully reopened forthwith on receipt of the petition letter.
He argued that the school was duly registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission in 2013 to train professional seafarers in Nigeria and run approved maritime courses.
He also claimed that the academy was duly licensed and approved by various regulatory authorities like Federal Ministry of Education, National Board for Technical Education, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) among others.
Also speaking with Shipping Position Daily, Vice Chairman of the Shipping Zonal Council of the merchant navy association, Comrade Alfred Oniye said that Adams Pius is a member of the association.
He noted that part of the academy had been opened on 22nd of May 2017, but there is need for it to commence and go back to its full operations.
He claimed that the invasion of Merchant Seaman Academy on Feb. 9 by the operatives of the Nigerian Navy was totally illegal.
Describing the closed down of the school as “act of trespassing and unconstitutional”, he threatened that the association would take legal action against the Nigerian Navy for embarrassing its member in his legitimate business.
The Nigerian Navy had stormed the institution in the month of February and arrested the proprietor along with other staff members while the students numbering 95 were sent home on grounds that the institution was unqualified to be merchant navy academy.
The Executive Officer at NNS Jubilee, Capt. Mudiaga Ejumabone, who led the operation to close down the school, had told newsmen that the Merchant Seaman Academy was not an approved institution.
Ejumabone said that the only institution that trained merchant navy in the country was Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Transport.
He stated that the merchant seaman academy did not have any legal backing to operate and was neither registered nor approved by the Ministry of Transport as maritime training institution.
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