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, following his failure to appear before a committee investigating scholarship funds released to the institution.

The resolution was reached on Friday during the Assembly’s 53rd legislative sitting after lawmakers considered the report of an ad hoc committee chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol.

The committee had invited the Vice-Chancellor several times to explain how funds provided by the Rivers State Government under a scholarship scheme were utilised. The Assembly said the university received more than ₦29bn from the state since 2017.

According to the committee’s report, there were discrepancies between the funds released and the number of students enrolled under the scheme. The Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, also said documents from the state Ministries of Finance and Education and the Accountant-General’s office contained differing figures.

The Assembly further asked the state government to establish a committee to recover any unaccounted funds allegedly held by the university and return them to the state’s Consolidated Revenue Account.

The dispute has been ongoing since the Assembly removed a proposed ₦6bn allocation for PAMO University from the state’s 2026 budget and began investigating previous disbursements.

PAMO University’s lawyer had previously argued that the Assembly lacked jurisdiction to compel the Vice-Chancellor to appear before the committee.