By  Henry Umoru

The Senate has passed the bill for the establishment of Nigerian Maritime University in Delta State, thereby bringing the proposed institution close to gaining statutory status, three years after its foundation was laid.

It will be recalled Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, recently said that physical assets were on the site of the  proposed university.

However, there is no law backing the establishment of the university.

The bill for its establishment was passed by the Senate, yesterday, following the report of the Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFUND, chaired by Barau Jibrin (APC-Kano).

SENATE CHAMBER

The bill was sponsored by James Manager (PDP-Delta).

The Senate referred the bill for consideration of the Education Committee in November 2016, when it scaled second reading.

Mr. Manager, the sponsor, argued that the maritime sector had huge potentials and that Nigeria should have a university for the purpose of producing capable manpower for the sector which, as he said, is currently dominated by foreign interests.

On suitability of Okerenkoko for the project, he said that the area was close to the sea and surrounded by oil wells.

The bill will now be transmitted to the House of Representatives for concurrence and later for President Muhammadu Buhari’s assent, before it becomes law, which would allow the school access to funding from the annual budget.