Rivers Assembly, varsity lawyer clash over N28bn funds

Controversy has intensified over the N6bn allocated to the PAMO University of Medical Sciences for scholarships to state-origin medical students. While the state legislature insists that PAMO University vice-chancellor must appear before it to explain the use of funds disbursed since 2017, the institution’s lawyer is unwilling to allow his client to testify. The state Assembly had earlier rejected the N6bn, alleging lack of transparency in university fund management.

The legislature constituted a committee to probe the funds disbursed to the university and invited the vice-chancellor, state officials, and other key personnel to explain the expenditure. The committee, chaired by Deputy Speaker Dumle Maol, had originally scheduled a meeting for September 24, but the invited parties failed to appear.

The university lawyer, Chukwuma Chinwo, maintains that the vice-chancellor will not appear, stating that the Assembly is exceeding its powers as it did not allocate any funds to the university. Chinwo argues that scholarship provisions for students are akin to private sponsorship, and that the legal issues surrounding the funds are not the university's concern.

Maol, however, asserts that sections 128 and 129 of the 1999 Constitution empower the Assembly to conduct an inquiry into how PAMO University spent the appropriated funds. He points to contradictory records from the Ministry of Finance and Education, which show that the university has received over N28bn since 2017, including N1bn in 2026. Maol argues that the Assembly has the constitutional right to inquire about the use of these funds.