Unqualified MAN staff must go – Amaechi

Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi has explained why the federal government will soon sack unqualified staff of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN) Oron.
He said the development would pave way to raise the standards of the institution.
Amaechi who was guest at a breakfast radio programme, Fact File, monitored on the network service of Ray Power FM, said the school was far from attaining its full potentials due to low quality of academic staff and poor management of about N19 billion allocated to the institution.
His comment confirmed the rumor that the government was planning to reduce the work force in the institution.
He noted that the school was not producing employable graduates because some of the academic staff were either unqualified or possess certificates they could not defend.
The minister narrated cited a case of one of the academy’s lecturers who claimed to possess a Ph.D degree in Geography and could not answer question about longest seas and rivers in the world.
He explained that his decision to set up a committee to look into the academy was borne out of concern to bring out the best from the institution adding that what he was doing with the academy was a replication of the state of emergency he declared in the educational sector in Rivers State, when he was Governor.
On suspension of admissions at the institution for two years, the minister said the students would not be affected adversely as the suspension was in their interest.
He accused a former Rector of the academy of mismanaging N19 billion which the school got from statutory remittances from Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
Amaechi said the former Rector refused bringing contracts for quality constructions to the ministry for approval and alleged that he over stepped his bound by awarding the contracts above the N250m threshold of his approval.
Since the setting up of an interim management committee, which some stakeholders had expressed reservations the staff of the institution have been living with palpable fear of losing their jobs.

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