The Nigerian Maritime University (NMU), Okerenkoko, Delta State, held its maiden matriculation ceremony on Saturday.
Speaking during the matriculation event held at the Kurutie campus of the institution in Warri South-West local Government Area, the Acting Governor of Delta State, Kingsley Otuaro, said the people of Niger Delta people were on same page with President Muhammadu Buhari on the university project.
Otuaro said the “actualisation of the Nigerian Maritime University was a collective aspiration of Ijaw and Niger Delta people”.
He assured that the state government will give the best of support to the growth and development of the university.
Otuaro said the state government was concerned about the university’s dockyard that is meant to be established in Gbaramatu Kingdom. He noted that a committee headed by him has been constituted to interface with the Federal Government and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to ensure that government arrives at a decision that will be in the best interest of all critical stakeholders of the maritime university.
“You are here only for one purpose. The purpose is to add value to the Nigerian society. You can only add value to humanity when you are trained. The untrained mind cannot add value and services to humanity. I enjoin you to invest sufficiently on your mind to become productive tomorrow,” Otuaro charged the matriculating students.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was represented at the event by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta, Edobor Iyamu, said the Nigerian Maritime University reflected President Buhari’s core vision to rewrite the story of the neglected Niger Delta region.
The Vice-Chancellor NMU, Engr. Prof. (Mrs) O.M.O Etebu in her address, noted that Osinbajo’s visit to the university in 2017 set it on the path of actualization.
Etebu, who noted that the university has three faculties that consists of 38 undergraduate programmes, said the first set of matriculating students were drawn from 24 states of the federation while the second set consist of students from 28 states.