The Rivers State House of Assembly has issued a warrant for the arrest of the Vice-Chancellor of PAMO University of Medical Sciences, Professor Smith Jaja, following his alleged refusal to appear before a legislative committee investigating more than ₦29 billion reportedly released to the institution under the state’s scholarship programme.
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The resolution was adopted on Friday during the Assembly’s 53rd legislative sitting after lawmakers considered the report of the seven-member ad hoc committee investigating scholarship funds released to the private medical university since 2017.
The committee is headed by the Deputy Speaker, Dumle Maol.
Presenting the report, Maol said the Vice-Chancellor had failed to honour several invitations to appear before the committee and provide information concerning the funds reportedly received by the university.
The Assembly had previously summoned the Vice-Chancellor, the state Accountant-General, the commissioners for finance and education and other officials to explain how money released for the sponsorship of Rivers State students was administered.
The investigation was instituted under Sections 128 and 129 of the 1999 Constitution, which empower a State House of Assembly to investigate the administration and disbursement of money appropriated by it and to summon persons to give evidence or produce documents.
Section 129 also empowers the legislature to issue a warrant compelling the attendance of a person who fails to honour its summons, subject to the constitutional conditions governing the exercise of that power.
The controversy began after the Assembly removed a proposed ₦6 billion scholarship allocation for PAMO University from the Rivers State 2026 Appropriation Law.
Lawmakers subsequently constituted an ad hoc committee to establish the total amount released to the institution since its establishment, determine whether the funds were applied for their intended purposes and identify the beneficiaries of the scholarship programme.
According to the committee, documents provided by the state ministries of finance and education and the Office of the Accountant-General contained conflicting figures concerning the payments and number of students sponsored.
The committee alleged that more than ₦29 billion had been released to the university since 2017 without corresponding student-enrolment records capable of accounting for the entire amount.
Speaker of the Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, said a review of the documents indicated that only about ₦5 billion could be linked to the scholarship programme, leaving a substantial amount requiring further explanation.
These figures remain allegations arising from the legislative investigation and have not been established by a court or an independent audit.
Following the adoption of the committee’s report, the Assembly directed that a warrant be issued to compel the Vice-Chancellor’s appearance.
It also asked the Rivers State Government to establish a debt-recovery committee to identify and recover any unaccounted public funds found to be in the university’s possession and return the money to the state’s Consolidated Revenue Account.
The Assembly’s action came amid an ongoing legal dispute over the scope of its investigative authority.
PAMO University and its Vice-Chancellor had approached the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt, challenging the powers of the Assembly to investigate the institution and threatening the Vice-Chancellor with arrest.
The suit joined the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Inspector-General of Police and Rivers State Commissioner of Police as respondents.
Justice Chukwu Mark, however, declined the applicants’ request for an interim order restraining the Assembly from continuing the investigation or enforcing its summons.
The judge said the respondents should be afforded fair hearing and adjourned the fundamental-rights suit until September 29, 2026. The refusal of the interim application did not amount to a final determination that the Assembly’s actions were lawful.
PAMO University has disputed the Assembly’s allegations and maintained that money received from the Rivers State Government represented tuition and related payments for students sponsored by the state.
Its lawyer, Chukwuma Chinwo, argued that the Assembly lacked jurisdiction to compel the university’s Vice-Chancellor to account for scholarship money paid on behalf of students.
He compared the arrangement to parents paying their children’s university fees and maintained that the school had regularly provided the Ministry of Education with information concerning the sponsored students.
“We have advised our clients not to appear before that panel because they don’t have jurisdiction over them in the circumstances,” Chinwo said.
The university had earlier, through Ayodeji Adedipe, SAN, demanded a retraction and apology from the Speaker over statements suggesting that it failed to account for public funds.
Adedipe described the statements as false and defamatory, insisting that the university had “strictly and judiciously” applied the scholarship payments for their designated purpose.
The Assembly, however, maintained that the fact that the payments originated from public funds brought the transactions within its constitutional oversight mandate.
PAMO University is a private medical institution founded by former Rivers State Governor Peter Odili.
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