A socio-cultural organisation, Oro Patriotic Movement has blamed the Federal Government over improper funding of Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron for the past few years.

The leader of the group, Mr. Clinson Emene, urged the FG in Eket on Tuesday to release the statutory budgetary funds to the academy to enable the academy meet its educational needs.

According to Emene, proper funding of the academy would aid the institution complete some of the ongoing projects on time.

“We want the FG to encourage Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, by releasing more funds to the institution to enable it complete some of its ongoing projects.

“We are not happy at the speed at which projects in the institution are executed. We appreciate the effort of the rector, Mr. Joshua Okpo, for working assiduously to give the institution a facelift,” he said.

He lamented that the funds that come into the institution through Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency had been split into three maritime institutions in the country, among which are those in Warri, Port Harcourt, and Oron.

He said, “If you go to the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron, you will see many abandoned projects owing to the split in funds which were meant for the academy.

“We in the Oro Patriotic Movement, therefore, call on NIMASA to release more funds to the academy to complete some of the projects that were left uncompleted,” he said.

Emene, however, praised the rector of the academy, Mr. Joshua Okpo for his prudent management of scarce resources, which had brought about massive development in infrastructure within the academy