Senate Takes Steps To Rejuvenate MAN Oron’s Boat Maintenance Yard With Budget Review

By Roland Ekama

The Senate Committee on Marine Transport has promised to review the budget of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa Ibom State, in a bid to revive the moribund boat maintenance yard.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Senator Wasiu Eshilokun Sanni, disclosed this during the 8th Town Hall meeting held in Lagos on Tuesday, with the theme Smart District, Strong Communities: Building A Better Future.

Eshilokun, who represents Lagos Central Senatorial District, emphasized the effectiveness and relevance of government agencies in the maritime sector, noting that MAN Oron is no exception.

The Senator said the committee recently visited the academy as part of its legislative functions, where the lawmakers promised to review the budget of MAN Oron to ensure the completion of the abandoned boat yard.

DAILYFOCUS NIGERIA gathered that the maintenance yard has been moribund for over a decade — a situation that sparked the upper chamber’s effort to revamp the asset, which has the potential to boost revenue generation for the nautical school and enhance manpower development.

Eshilokun stated, “The committee, in its usual character since I became Chairman, promised to review the budget of the academy and support efforts to complete the abandoned and seriously dilapidated boat maintenance yard, transforming it into a functional facility, with a view to providing the academy with the necessary internally generated revenue (IGR) to operate smoothly.”

He also noted that this is the first time in twenty years that the Senate Committee on Transport has visited MAN Oron. He added that the modest developments observed at the academy were as a result of the 2024 appropriation facilitated by the current committee.

While discussing the committee’s oversight visits to ports across the country, Eshilokun noted that critical engagement with maritime industry stakeholders was yielding positive results in addressing challenges affecting port operations.

He said, “In continuation of this oversight function, my committee also visited some ports in the Eastern Ports Complex between August 3rd and 5th, 2025. The first port of call was Port Harcourt Port, where most stakeholders commended the committee for engineering change through government interventions by promptly addressing the challenges of the port.

“In my brief address explaining the committee’s visit, I stated that we came to assess how the resources allocated to the Nigeria Ports Authority for port upgrades have been utilized and to listen to the challenges faced by both management and concessionaires.

“We also sought to determine how far concessionaires have adhered to the terms of their agreements,” he added.