A controversy has deepened over the N6bn allocated to the PAMO University of Medical Sciences in the 2026 Rivers State budget for scholarships to students of the state origin studying medicine. The state legislature has insisted that the PAMO University vice-chancellor must appear before it to explain how funds from the budget disbursed to the school since 2017 were spent. The institution’s lawyer has stated that he would not allow his client to appear before the committee.
The state Assembly had on September 3, while passing the over N1.8tn budget submitted by Governor Siminalayi Fubara, rejected N6bn allocated to the PAMO University. The House alleged that the management of the university, owned by former governor of the state, Dr Peter Odili, had not been transparent in the management of the funds allocated to it by the state government since 2017.
After the N6bn was removed from the budget and assented to by the governor, the Assembly constituted a committee chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol, to probe the funds disbursed to the university since 2017. The committee invited the Vice Chancellor of PUMS, the State Accountant General, the commissioner for finance, the commissioner for education and other officials to appear before the committee to explain how the funds appropriated to the university were expended.
The ad hoc committee had fixed Thursday, September 24, as a new date for the vice-chancellor of the university and the state government officials to appear, having failed to appear before it on September 16. The committee had threatened to invoke sections of the constitution to issue an arrest warrant if the invitees failed to appear on the said date.
However, speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt, lawyer to the university, Chukwuma Chinwo, insisted that the vice-chancellor would not appear before the Assembly, saying the state legislature was going beyond its powers, as it did not appropriate any funds to the university. Chinwo stated that there were no funds appropriated to PAMO University and that the university was not accountable to the Assembly in the matter.
Reacting to the comments by the university lawyer, the state Assembly ad hoc committee investigating the funds allegedly disbursed to the university insisted that sections 128 and 129 of the 1999 Constitution empower it to conduct an inquiry on how PAMO University spent the funds being appropriated to it. The committee stated that documents provided by the state Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education showed that the university has since 2017 received over N28bn from the Rivers State government.
The committee chairman, Dumle Maol, said the records showed that the university has collected over N28bn, including N1bn received in 2026, which gives the Assembly the constitutional right to inquire how the funds were spent. Maol stated that the Vice Chancellor must appear before the committee to explain how the funds were utilized.
Key points
- The Rivers State Assembly and the lawyer of PAMO University of Medical Sciences are in a dispute over the utilization of N28bn funds allocated to the institution since 2017.
- The state legislature has insisted that the PAMO University vice-chancellor must appear before it to explain how funds from the budget disbursed to the school since 2017 were spent.
- The institution’s lawyer has stated that he would not allow his client to appear before the committee, citing that the state legislature was going beyond its powers.
