Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
The escalating dispute between PAMO University of Medical Sciences (PUMS), Port Harcourt, and the Rivers State House of Assembly over the state’s scholarship programme has raised concerns over the academic future of about 600 current scholarship beneficiaries enrolled at the institution.
The development followed the issuance of a warrant of arrest by the Assembly for the university’s Vice-Chancellor over his failure to appear before its ad hoc committee investigating the disbursement and utilisation of scholarship funds to the institution.
The warrant was issued on Friday, September 25, 2026, during the Assembly’s 53rd legislative sitting, following consideration of the committee’s report.
The Assembly has also called for steps to recover funds it says remain unaccounted for under the scholarship arrangement.
Meanwhile, the Assembly has maintained that its investigation is focused on accountability for public funds. Its committee has raised questions over the amounts released under the scholarship arrangement and the corresponding student enrolment figures.
However, PUMS, in a public notice signed by its Registrar, Peter I. Akubuiroh, said the university had sought to cooperate with the inquiry but disagreed with aspects of the process.
According to the university, it sent a representative to the committee’s sitting on September 16, but the representative was not recognised and documents he sought to submit were not accepted.
The institution subsequently sought legal protection, saying the matter was before the courts when the arrest warrant was issued.
PUMS also disputed the suggestion that the Rivers State Government directly appropriates funds to the private university.
It said the scholarship scheme is administered through the Rivers State Ministry of Education, which serves as the supervising government agency and holds the relevant records and agreements.
“PAMO University of Medical Sciences is a private institution. Accordingly, neither the Rivers State Government nor the House of Assembly appropriates money directly to it. Any appropriation is made to the Ministry of Education or other government ministry, department, or agency to meet the state’s scholarship obligations.”
The university maintained it has complied with its obligations under the scholarship agreement and said it had continued to retain scholarship students on campus despite outstanding payments for about four months.
The institution said the current beneficiaries are studying Medicine and Surgery, Nursing Science, Medical Laboratory Science, Radiography, Pharmacology, Physiology, Anatomy and Biochemistry, among other medical and health-related programmes.
PUMS further disclosed that 1,166 Rivers State indigenes have benefited from the scholarship scheme since its inception, while 323 have graduated.
The university said any disruption to the arrangement could affect the education of the approximately 600 students currently benefiting from the scheme and urged that the interests of the students be taken into account as the dispute proceeds.
The dispute is now before both the legislative and judicial processes, with the welfare and continued education of hundreds of Rivers State scholarship beneficiaries emerging as a central concern.