RismadarVoice Reporters
September 25, 2026
The Rivers State House of Assembly has ordered the arrest of the Vice Chancellor of PAMO University of Medical Sciences over his alleged repeated failure to appear before lawmakers investigating more than N29 billion released to the institution under a state-funded scholarship programme.
The resolution followed the consideration of a report by the House Ad hoc Committee investigating government funding of scholarship programmes at the university since 2017.
Deputy Speaker and committee chairman Dumle Maol presented the report during the Assembly’s 53rd legislative sitting on Friday.
According to the committee, the Vice Chancellor failed to honour several invitations to explain the utilisation of funds released to the university under the scholarship scheme.
The committee said more than N29 billion had been released by the Rivers State Government, but raised questions over the number of students covered by the programme and how the money was spent.
It also reported discrepancies in figures contained in documents submitted by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education and Office of the Accountant-General.
Speaking during the sitting, Speaker Martin Chike Amaewhule said available records indicated that about N5 billion of the amount released had been utilised, leaving lawmakers seeking explanations over the balance.
The Assembly consequently recommended the establishment of a debt recovery committee to determine the amount, if any, that remains unaccounted for and recover funds found to be due to the state.
Any recovered money is expected to be paid into the Rivers State Consolidated Revenue Account.
Amaewhule said the scholarship initiative was established with good intentions but maintained that the legislature had a responsibility to scrutinise the management of public funds.
He said the Assembly would continue exercising its oversight responsibilities regardless of the individuals or institutions involved.
The allegations against the university have not been established by a court, and the Assembly’s action forms part of its ongoing investigation into the scholarship programme and the utilisation of funds released since 2017.
