The face-off between the Rivers State House of Assembly and PAMO University of Medical Sciences over the disbursement of state funds to the institution has intensified, with the Assembly’s Ad-Hoc Committee investigating the matter directing the university’s Vice Chancellor to appear before it on Thursday, September 24, or risk the invocation of its constitutional powers.
The development followed the committee’s second sitting to investigate the Rivers State Government’s disbursement of funds to PAMO University, coming amid the Assembly’s earlier rejection of the ₦6 billion appropriated for the university.
The committee had invited key stakeholders, including representatives of the Ministries of Education and Finance, the Accountant-General of the State, the Commissioner for Finance and the Vice Chancellor of PAMO University.
While representatives of the Ministries of Education and Finance appeared before the committee and submitted relevant documents, the Vice Chancellor was absent. Although PAMO’s legal representatives were present, they were not allowed to represent the Vice Chancellor, with the Deputy Speaker insisting that the university’s chief executive must appear in person.
The committee subsequently directed the Clerk of the House to issue a fresh invitation to the Vice Chancellor, while adjourning the hearing to enable the Accountant-General and Commissioner for Finance, who were reportedly in Abuja for a Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting, to appear and submit additional documents.
Appearing before the committee, the Commissioner for Education, Peter Nwagor, presented documents relating to the ministry’s involvement in the funding process. He maintained that the disbursement was transparent and consistent with the state government’s policy of training medical personnel.
“We have produced all evidence to show our disbursement to PAMO University for the training of our children, especially those from the medical sciences,” Nwagor said.
He added that the ministry had nothing to conceal, stressing that the process was undertaken in accordance with the Rivers State Government’s policy on medical training.
Explaining the committee’s decision to adjourn the hearing, the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Dumle Maol, said the committee required the presence of all relevant stakeholders and the submission of complete documentation before proceeding with its assessment.
Maol said the Accountant-General and Commissioner for Finance would be expected to appear alongside PAMO University on Thursday, September 24, 2026, when the committee is scheduled to reconvene at 10 a.m.
According to him, the committee would receive and evaluate the documents in accordance with its constitutional mandate, particularly Sections 128 and 129 of the 1999 Constitution, which empower the legislature to investigate matters within its oversight functions.
The Deputy Speaker warned that failure by the Vice Chancellor, as well as the Accountant-General and Commissioner for Finance, to comply with the invitation could lead the committee to exercise the powers available to it under the Constitution.
“Failure for PAMO University, the Vice-Chancellor particularly, not to appear to submit documents and speak to those documents, the committee will have no other option than to invoke the spirit and letter of the constitution,” Maol said.
He stressed that the same requirement applied to the Accountant-General and Commissioner for Finance, adding that the committee would proceed with its mandate if the officials failed to appear.
PAMO Rejects Assembly’s Authority
PAMO University, however, has rejected the committee’s position, with its Legal Adviser, Chukwuma Chinwo, PhD, maintaining that the Assembly lacks jurisdiction to summon the private university over the matter.
Chinwo said the university’s legal team had advised its management not to appear before the committee, arguing that the dispute was essentially an internal matter concerning the state government’s appropriation and disbursement of funds.
“We have advised our clients that they should not appear before that panel because they don’t have jurisdiction,” Chinwo said.
He argued that the situation would have been different if the Assembly were investigating a government ministry over the utilisation of funds appropriated for a specific programme and required PAMO to confirm details of payments or services rendered.
According to him, inviting the university as though it were responsible for accounting for the funds was inappropriate, particularly given what he described as previous public comments against PAMO by the Speaker.
Chinwo maintained that a private university could not be compelled to appear before the Assembly simply to resolve what he described as an internal government funding issue.
Constitutional Powers at Centre of Dispute
The latest development has therefore brought the disagreement into a potentially broader legal and constitutional arena, with the Assembly relying on its investigative powers and PAMO questioning the extent of those powers over a private institution.
At the centre of the dispute is the question of the nature of the funds disbursed to PAMO University and the respective responsibilities of the state government, its ministries and the university in accounting for the expenditure.
While government representatives have maintained that the disbursement was made for the training of medical students and was properly documented, PAMO’s legal team has challenged the Assembly’s jurisdiction to summon the institution.
The committee is now expected to reconvene on Thursday, September 24, 2026, when the presence or absence of the Vice Chancellor could determine the next phase of the confrontation.
For now, the Assembly insists that the Vice Chancellor must appear and produce relevant documents, while PAMO University maintains that it has no obligation to submit to the committee’s invitation.
The outcome of the September 24 sitting could consequently determine whether the dispute proceeds through further legislative investigation or develops into a legal contest over the scope of the Rivers State House of Assembly’s constitutional oversight powers.
