Kachikwu Disagrees with Amaechi on Maritime University

The minister of transport, Chibuike Amaechi, and the minister of state for petroleum, Ibeh Kachikwu, on Monday disagreed on the establishment of a Nigerian Maritime University, proposed for Okerenkoko in Delta State.

Speaking alongside other ministers at a government town meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Mr Amaechi defended the decision of the Buhari administration to scrap the project.Mr Amaechi said the previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan had paid too much to acquire a site for the university.The groundbreaking of the proposed school at Okerenkoko in Warri south-West local government area was done by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.But addressing the senate committee on maritime on January 19, Mr Amaechi announced the scrapping of the project, which was to be financed by the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Administration Agency, a parastatal under his ministry.He cited insecurity in the area, and said the project was a “misplacement of priority” because there are transport institutes in Zaria (Kaduna), and Oron (Akwa Ibom), already.But Mr Kachikwu disagreed with Mr Amaechi, saying he was in support of the project, drawing a loud applause from the audience.“First, let me say on Okerenkoko University, I disagree with the Minister of Transport,” he said.“Any facility that is located in the South-South, we should work closely to developing it. I don’t care the circumstances under which you are placed.“It’s not in my position to determine whether land was valued at 3 billion or 10 billion. The appropriate institution which is at the cost system will determine that. That has nothing to do with development of infrastructure. And as far as I know, so much has already gone into the university.“So much of physical assets are being developed. We are not going to throw away the baby with bath water. We will deal with the issues but the university will be developed. If he (Amaechi) does not want it in Maritime, I will take it in petroleum,” he said.Mr Kachikwu later said that he joined the present government without ever meeting President Muhammadu Buhari, but by “recommendation and reputation”.On the renewed insurgency in the Niger Delta region, Mr Kachikwu repeated his call for dialogue with Niger Delta Avengers which has vowed to ground Nigeria’s oil industry, having carried out audacious attacks on oil and gas installations.