Maritime Academy landlords, host communities, Royal Fathers press for Varsity status

...Say “We are not against Okpo
…all we want is a Maritime University”

 

The host communities,  landlords and traditional rulers of Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron have at last broken the silence over the raging controversy trailing the earlier proclaimed University status promised the institution by the immediate past Head of State, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and echoed by the former Governor of Akwa-Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

Rising from an emergency meeting of the Village Heads who gave out their land for the expansion of the Academy to a University campus, the royal fathers maintained that over 100 hecters of their land were aquired and willfully surrendered by the Eyo Abasi Group of Villages on request by the Akwa Ibom State Government for the Academy to meet up the National Universities Commission requirement status for the upgrading.

Briefing journalists in his palace at Eyobioesio Village on behalf of the aggrieved village heads,Chief Edemumoh Iduo Edemumoh, the Village Head of Eyobioesio and a member of Oron Local Traditional Rulers Council, disclosed that about five years ago,the Akwa Ibom State government approached the host communities of the Maritime Academy, Oron, comprising mainly Eyo Abasi Group of Villages to ask for over 100 hecters of their farmland in order for the institution to meet up the NUC requirement for the elevation of the Maritime Academy to Maritime University, Oron.

According to Chief Edemumoh, who is also a retired public officer,the host communities, landlords and royal fathers were excited,enthusiastic, and elated over the pleasant and cheery development.

The traditional rulers also hinted that the government had initially requested the 69 hecters of land for the Maritime University, but few months later, came back to ask for additional 31 hecters on the explanation that the earlier plots surrendered by the Eyo Abasi Community was not enough.

In all these requests, Offong Edemumoh who spoke on behalf of Offong Edet Okon Mkpaoyo, village head of Eyo Usottai; Offong Anwana Akpakatang Esin, village head of Udung Osin; Offong Antai Okon Eyo, village head of Udung Usottai and Offong Asawan Udusip Eyang, village head-elect of Eyo Antai Okung, pointed out that the landowners never hesitated to release the requested hectares of land to the Academy in anticipation of the upgrading.

Expressing anger, disappointment and melancholy, the landlords spokesperson regretted however that rather than the Academy landlords getting the proposed Maritime University on their land, as promised, series of negative controversies are now trailing the uplift of the institution.

Offong Edemumoh also recalled with nostalgia that sometime in May this year, former President Goodluck Jonathan had publicly declared in Akwa Ibom International Stadium that Maritime Academy, Oron would attain the status of Maritime University, and even went on to assure that the institution would commence admission for undergraduates this September, a proclamation which he asserted was similarly confirmed by former Governor Godswill Akpabio few weeks later. 

The royal fathers expressed displeasure that Maritime Academy which started as Nautical College in 1979 is yet to progress metamorphose into a university after 36 years.

At the end of the briefing, all the traditional rulers present, including Offong Edemumoh I. Edemumoh (Eyobioesio), Offong Edet Okon Mkpaoyo (Eyo Usottai), Offong Anwana Akakatang Esin (Udung Osin), Offong Antai Okon Eyo (Udung Usoattai), Offong Asanam Udusip Eyang (Eyo Antai Okung) and Offong Edet Efiong Esangebianga (Eyo Abasi Village Head), concurred that if the Maritime University is no more tenable, the hectares of land, which they posited was their only means of livelihood should be returned to them.

In an answer to a journalist’s question, the royal fathers affirmed that they have no grudge about Amb. Joshua Okpo’s tenure extension nor any counter view on his superlative performance as recorded in all ramifications, and the media, but that all they need from the Federal Government is a Maritime University, which is what gingered them to offer a whopping 100 hectares of land for the take-off of the University. They however disclosed that if all entreaties failed, they would be constrained to take legal steps to reclaim their land.