Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Rivers State House of Assembly has ordered the arrest of the Vice-Chancellor of PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Port Harcourt, Professor Smith Jaja, over the disbursement of scholarship funds running into several billion naira that the Assembly says remain unaccounted for, escalating a long-running confrontation between the state legislature and the private medical institution.
The order was made on Friday during plenary presided over by the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, following deliberations on the report of the Ad Hoc Committee investigating the disbursement of funds to the university by the state government since 2017. According to a statement issued by the Special Assistant on Media to the Speaker, Martins Wachukwu, the House resolved to issue a warrant of arrest for the Vice-Chancellor in line with the recommendation of the Committee. The House also urged the Rivers State Government to set up a committee to recover all unaccounted funds in the possession of PAMO University and deposit them in the state’s Consolidated Revenue Account.
The Ad Hoc Committee Report, presented by its Chairman and Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Dumle Maol, chronicled how the university received over N29 billion from the state government with no corresponding student enrolment, giving credence to the reason behind the Vice-Chancellor’s refusal to honour the committee’s invitations. Commenting on the report, Speaker Amaewhule said that while the intentions of the government in entering into the scholarship scheme agreement were good, the implementation was a cog in the plan. He frowned at the situation where documents presented by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, and the Office of the Accountant-General were at variance, adding that by simple deduction, out of the over N29 billion released by the State Government to PAMO University, it merely utilised only N5 billion.
The Assembly’s order followed the Vice-Chancellor’s refusal to appear before the Ad Hoc Committee despite several invitations, including an extended deadline of Thursday, September 24, 2026. The committee, which was constituted in early September, was mandated to investigate how much funding the university had received from the Rivers State Government since its inception in 2017, including money provided for scholarship programmes for indigenes of Rivers State. The probe followed the Assembly’s decision to remove a N6 billion scholarship grant proposed for PAMO University from the 2026 Appropriation Law, with the funds redirected to the Primary Health Care Management Board for facility rehabilitation.
In its findings, the committee highlighted several irregularities, including discrepancies in the origin and local government areas of admitted beneficiaries, noting that the state government was operating at a loss. The committee recommended discontinuing further funding to the private institution and suggested that such resources be redirected to the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the Rivers State University. It also blamed the Ministry of Education for failing to monitor the scholarship programme. Addressing the House, Speaker Amaewhule clarified that the investigation was neither a witch-hunt nor a political vendetta, but a necessary response following the university’s request for an increase in funding from N6 billion to N8 billion. The Speaker emphasised that “no individual can be bigger than the House as an institution empowered by the Constitution.”
The order marks the latest escalation in a dispute that has been building for weeks. PAMO University, a private university based in Port Harcourt, has challenged the powers of the Rivers State House of Assembly to probe its affairs, arguing that the Assembly’s oversight does not extend to the internal financial administration of a private institution. The university dragged the Assembly to court, and on September 23, 2026, the High Court of Rivers State, sitting in Port Harcourt and presided over by Justice Mark Chukwu, declined an application for an interim order against the House. Justice Chukwu adjourned the case for the enforcement of fundamental rights filed by PAMO University and its Vice-Chancellor to Tuesday, September 29, 2026, for hearing.
The university’s legal team, led by Dr Chukwuma Chinwo and Sunny Udesi, is challenging the powers of the Assembly to probe the institution, with the suit joined by the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, the Inspector-General of Police and the Rivers State Commissioner of Police. The Assembly, for its part, has relied on Sections 128 and 129 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which empower state Houses of Assembly to summon persons and demand documents in the course of their investigations. The committee chairman, Dumle Maol, has consistently maintained that the relevant constitutional provisions would be relied upon to compel attendance, including the possibility of issuing warrants of arrest.
The dispute comes amid a broader political context in Rivers State, where the Assembly and Governor Siminalayi Fubara have been locked in a prolonged power struggle over the state’s finances and governance. The Assembly, led by Amaewhule, has repeatedly clashed with the governor over budget allocations, appointments and the conduct of state affairs. The PAMO University probe has become another arena in that confrontation, with the Assembly asserting its oversight authority and the university questioning the legislature’s jurisdiction over a private institution that receives state scholarship funds.
For the students of Rivers State origin who are beneficiaries of the scholarship programme, the Assembly’s recommendations include a provision that current beneficiaries at PAMO University be allowed to complete their studies, ensuring that the dispute does not disrupt their education. The recovery committee, if constituted, would be tasked with determining the exact amount of unaccounted funds and pursuing their return to the state’s Consolidated Revenue Account. The warrant of arrest, once issued, would compel the Vice-Chancellor’s appearance before the Assembly or authorise law enforcement to apprehend him.
The House adjourned plenary to September 28, 2026, to deliberate on proposed constitutional amendments forwarded by the National Assembly. The coming days will determine whether the Vice-Chancellor complies with the Assembly’s summons, whether the court intervenes to restrain the legislature, and whether the dispute is resolved through legal channels or escalates further. For now, the Assembly has made its position clear: the funds belong to the people of Rivers State, and those who received them must account for every naira.
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