The Rivers State House of Assembly has ordered the arrest of the Vice-Chancellor of PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Port Harcourt, over scholarship funds disbursed to the institution by the state government, running into several billion naira. The Assembly said the arrest order became necessary because the institution’s VC failed to honour the invitation of the Ad Hoc House Committee investigating the disbursement of funds to the university by the state government since 2017.
The Assembly urged the Rivers State Government to set up a committee to recover all unaccounted funds in the possession of PAMO University and deposit them in the state’s Consolidated Revenue Account. This move comes after the House extended the deadline for the VC to appear before the committee, headed by the House Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol, on Thursday, September 24, 2026.
A statement issued by the Special Assistant on Media to the Speaker, Martins Wachukwu, on Friday said the House deliberated on the report of the Ad Hoc Committee probing the scholarship funds disbursed to the university. The statement reads that the House resolved to issue a warrant of arrest for the Vice-Chancellor of PAMO University of Medical Sciences in line with the recommendation of the Committee.
The Ad hoc Committee Report chronicled how the university received over 29 billion Naira from the State government with no corresponding student enrolment, giving credence to the reason behind the Vice Chancellor’s refusal to honour the invitations. The report revealed a discrepancy in the documents presented by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, and the Office of the Accountant-General.
The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule, said that though the intentions of the government in entering into the scholarship scheme agreement were good, the implementation was a cog in the plan. He frowned at the situation where documents presented by various government agencies were at variance, adding that by simple deduction, out of the over 29 billion Naira released by the State Government to PAMO University, it merely utilised only 5 billion Naira.
The House of Assembly had yanked off the sum of N6 billion allocated to the PAMO University of Medical Sciences in the state 2026 budget of N1.84 trillion presented to it by Governor Siminalayi Fubara before presenting the same to the governor on September 3rd for his assent which he appended without question. PAMO University is owned by former Rivers State governor, Dr Peter Odili, who doubles as the Pro-Chancellor.
The Rivers State House of Assembly is determined to do the right thing irrespective of whose ox is gored, according to the Speaker. He emphasized that ‘no individual can be bigger than the House as an institution empowered by the Constitution’. The Assembly’s order was made during a plenary session on Friday presided over by the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule.
Key points
- The Rivers State House of Assembly has ordered the arrest of the Vice-Chancellor of PAMO University of Medical Sciences over the disbursement of N29 billion scholarship funds.
- The university received over N29 billion from the State government with no corresponding student enrolment.
- The House urged the State Government to set up a committee to recover all unaccounted funds in possession of PAMO University.
