Secrets Reporters
The Maritime Academy of Nigeria in Oron trains the merchant navy officers, marine engineers and nautical professionals who crew Nigeria’s ships and staff its ports. A Federal Government investigation of the Academy’s 2023 financial year found ₦341,632,680.51 in irregularities across four findings, several carrying details more specific and more troubling than the headline figures alone suggest.
₦158,072,657.30 was paid to a staff member of the Academy under the guise of estacode, Duty Tour Allowance and other travel costs for the Rector’s international and local travel money that auditors found was in fact routed to the Rector’s Personal Assistant rather than paid directly to the Rector.
Management defended this by explaining that the Rector, given his busy schedule, had nominated his PA to handle travel logistics, and that as the approving officer himself, it would be inappropriate for the Rector to both request and approve his own payments.
Buried inside this same finding is a second, more troubling detail: part of this money was a cash advance tied to a sponsorship appeal from the Federal Ministry of Transportation, given as corporate social responsibility support during the 2023 World Maritime Day event at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos and auditors found no evidence that this sponsorship money was ever actually remitted onward to the Ministry as intended.
A third element of the same finding: Duty Tour Allowances meant for individual members of the Academy’s Governing Council were instead paid into a single staff account, with no evidence that the Council members themselves ever received or acknowledged the funds, a direct breach of the Federal Government’s e-payment policy, which exists precisely to ensure payments reach the named, intended beneficiary.
₦168,364,293.45 was paid to fifteen staff and non-staff of the Academy as estacode for international trips, training, workshops, conferences and other foreign engagements with no evidence that approval was obtained from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation or the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, as Establishment Circular Ref No. SGF/OP/I/S.3/XII/158 of 15th October 2019 requires.
₦13,107,837.50 in cash advances were granted to six staff members, officially for vehicle repairs and the entertainment of guests, at amounts above the ₦200,000.00 threshold requiring formal Award of Contract procedures rather than cash advances.
President Bola Tinubu sacked Commodore Duja Effedua in October 2025.
