The House of Representatives Committee on Public Petitions has summoned the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Safety and Administration Agency, NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola to appear before it on July 17, 2024.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the committee, chaired by Hon. Michael Irom Etaba, warned that the NIMASA DG may be forced to face arrest if he fails to honour the invitation.
DAILY POST reports that the committee has been investigating a petition filed by a group of persons under the aegis of Abade-Toru Manga Community Development Initiative on December 4, 2023.
The group accused NIMASA of failing to execute educational and skills acquisition projects as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, in the coastal communities.
In the petition, the group maintained that NIMASA, after expressing readiness to establish skills acquisition programmes in the communities in line with recommendations at the Global Maritime Security Conference in 2019, failed to keep to its promises.
According to them, the agency, “rather than live up to this commitment, decided to build a Maritime Skill Acquisition Centre and twin lecture theatre in Kaduna State, where the DG hails from. ”
The committee summoned Dayo to appear before it to explain why the agency failed to replicate the skills acquisition centres in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers states where it operates.
According to the statement, if the DG fails to appear, the committee will direct the Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to arrest and present him.