Rivers State House of Assembly Complex, where the ad-hoc committee is investigating funds disbursed to PAMO University of Medical Sciences.
Port Harcourt — The legal representative of PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Chukwuma Chinwo, has challenged the authority of the Rivers State House of Assembly to summon the university’s Vice-Chancellor, arguing that the institution is a private university not subject to the kind of oversight typically applied to publicly funded bodies.
Chinwo’s position was made known after the Vice-Chancellor and the state’s Accountant General both failed to appear before the Assembly’s Ad-hoc Committee investigating funds released to PAMO University from 2017 to date — an absence that had earlier drawn a sharp rebuke from the committee’s chairman.
Addressing the matter, Chinwo maintained that PAMO is a privately owned institution and does not receive appropriated funds from the state government. According to him, the only financial dealings between the university and the state relate to payments made by the Ministry of Education to cover scholarships awarded to Rivers State indigenes studying at the institution — not direct funding or grants to the university itself.
The lawyer argued that this distinction was significant, suggesting that the committee’s investigation may be built on a misunderstanding of the true nature of the financial relationship between PAMO and the state government.
Chinwo also raised questions over the propriety of summoning the Vice-Chancellor in person, pointing out that the university had already designated him as its legal representative for the matter. He questioned why the Assembly would still insist on the Vice-Chancellor’s personal appearance when the institution had followed due process by sending a lawyer to represent its interests before the committee.
His comments add a new dimension to the standoff between the Assembly and the officials it has summoned, coming just after the committee chairman, Dumle Maol, directed the absent officials — including the Vice-Chancellor, the Accountant General and the Commissioner for Finance — to appear in person at the next sitting on September 24, or risk the Assembly invoking its constitutional powers to compel their attendance.
It remains to be seen how the committee will respond to the questions raised over its jurisdiction, and whether the Vice-Chancellor will attend in person as directed or continue to rely on legal representation, as the probe into the disbursement of funds to PAMO University from 2017 to date continues.
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