Don’t relocate Maritime University, Niger Delta group pleads with Buhari

FROM: TAIWO AMODU, ABUJA

A group, Oil Producing Area Association of Nige­ria, (OPAAN), has expressed concern over what it called a plot to relocate the Maritime University from Okerenkoko to Ibusa.

It cautioned that such action could incite the oil communities and the Niger Delta as a region against President Muhammadu Buhari and his ad­ministration.

In a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja and signed by OPAAN’s National Secre­tary, Chief Chris Obiuwevbi and National Secre­tary, Dr. Alfred Mulade, the group advised Presi­dent Buhari to halt the move as it noted that it was capable of aggravating the scary security situation in the region against the backdrop of hostile envi­ronment precipitated by the emergence of Niger Delta Avengers.

OPAAN submitted that there was nowhere in the world where naval institutions were estab­lished far inland, just as it said that school facili­ties for the children of naval officers and men were usually co- located or in close proximity.

It further noted that certain security chiefs close to the Presidency were bent on precipitating cri­sis to undermine the genuine intentions of the Pres­ident Buhari administration, adding, that peace in the Niger Delta and indeed Nigeria would be bet­ter achieved in the environment of justice and fair play arising from sound judgment.

The group’s statement read in part: “It has come to our notice that the Nigerian Mari­time University, Okerenkoko, is being consid­ered for relocation to a proposed Navy Second­ary School, Ibusa, Delta State.