Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Rivers State House of Assembly has issued a warrant of arrest for the Vice-Chancellor of PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Professor Smith I. Jaja, following his repeated failure to appear before the House Ad Hoc Committee investigating the disbursement of scholarship funds to the institution. The resolution was reached on Friday, September 25, 2026, during the Assembly's 53rd legislative sitting, as lawmakers considered the report of the committee chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Dumle Maol.
The committee had invited the Vice-Chancellor on several occasions to explain how funds released to the university under the scholarship arrangement were utilised. According to the report presented to the House, PAMO University received more than N29 billion from the Rivers State Government since 2017, but the funds received were not matched by corresponding student enrolment figures. The Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule, said that based on the Assembly's assessment of the records before it, only about N5 billion of the more than N29 billion released to the university appeared to have been utilised. He expressed concern over discrepancies among documents submitted by the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, and the Office of the Accountant-General of the State, noting that the documents were not consistent in their accounting of the funds.
The Assembly subsequently resolved to issue a warrant of arrest for the Vice-Chancellor, in line with the recommendation contained in the committee's report. The House also urged the Rivers State Government to establish a funds recovery committee to identify and recover all unaccounted funds allegedly in the possession of PAMO University and return the recovered money to the state's Consolidated Revenue Account. Amaewhule stressed that no individual could be bigger than the House as an institution empowered by the Constitution. "The Speaker harped on the determination of the Assembly under his leadership to do the right thing irrespective of whose ox is gored," the statement read.
The arrest warrant is the culmination of a legislative inquiry that began after the Assembly yanked off the sum of N6 billion allocated to PAMO University in the state's 2026 budget of N1.84 trillion. The House rejected the allocation and established an ad hoc committee to investigate government funding of the university since 2017. PAMO University is owned by former Rivers State Governor Dr. Peter Odili, who doubles as the Pro-Chancellor. The university is named after Peter and Mary Odili.
The scholarship arrangement dates back to 2017, when Governor Nyesom Wike said the state had instituted a special public scholarship covering tuition, accommodation, and feeding for Rivers students at PAMO. By December 2021, he said almost 600 students had benefited and that the scheme cost more than N2.9 billion annually. He also announced a N500 million grant to the university. The policy was designed to produce doctors and other health professionals for the state, but the investigation has raised questions about whether the funds were properly utilised and whether the number of students enrolled justified the billions of naira released.
The development has placed PAMO University and its Vice-Chancellor at the centre of the Assembly's enforcement of its investigation into the scholarship scheme. The proposed recovery committee would be expected to trace and recover funds the lawmakers consider unaccounted for. As of the time of this report, the Rivers State Government had not issued an official statement on the arrest warrant. PAMO University had also not responded to the Assembly's resolution. The Commissioner for Finance, the Commissioner for Education, and the Accountant-General of the State, whose documents were found to be at variance, are also expected to appear before the committee to provide further clarifications.
The Rivers State House of Assembly's action marks a significant escalation in its oversight of public funds disbursed to private institutions. The move has drawn attention to the broader question of how the state monitors scholarship schemes and whether public money allocated to private universities is subject to adequate accountability. For now, the Vice-Chancellor faces the prospect of arrest, and the university faces the prospect of a recovery committee scrutinising its accounts. The Assembly has made it clear that it will not back down, and that the investigation will proceed regardless of whose interests are affected.
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