By Dipo Olowookere
President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the opening of the Nigerian Maritime University in Delta State.
He also said the prompt implementation of directive on the re-opening of the Maritime University to the Ministry of Education is to be coordinated by a 5-man inter-agency Committee headed by the Minister of Education.
A statement signed on Friday by Mr Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, stated the Mr Buhari gave the directive in a clear effort to further the Niger Delta New Vision policy of his administration and “in line with the demands championed by major stakeholders in the region.”
According to him, this recent step became necessary as “one of the several follow-up actions to the recent Presidential level interactive engagements with the Niger Delta oil producing communities.”
The 5-man inter-agency committee headed by the Minister of Education will have members from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, National Universities Commission (NUC), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Office of the Deputy Governor of Delta State.
He said the committee is to finalize the ongoing processes towards the opening of the Nigeria Maritime University in the 2017/2018 Academic Session and said it would work collaboratively with the current Principal Officers and the Governing Council of the institution.
Mr Akande said asides this, and in further demonstrating its unalloyed commitment to a new vision for the Niger Delta, the Mr Buhari administration has been working assiduously to evolve a number of robust strategies for key multi-sectoral outcomes and deliverables for the people of the oil-producing communities.
Modupe Gbadeyanka