Daily Trust

Task force shuts illegal naval training school in Kogi

- From Usman A. Bello, Lokoja

The joint military task force has sealed off an illegal Naval seafarer training school located at Idah in Idah Local Government Area of Kogi State. Addressing journalist­s yesterday after the operation, leader of the task force comprising the Navy, Army, SSS, police and Civil Defence Corps, Commander, NNS Lugard, Lokoja, Commodore Mohammed Shiwa, said the training school was shut down because it was operating illegally.

He said only the Nigerian Navy Seafarer Training School located in Oron, Cross River State, is recognized in the country, adding that any other seafarer institutio­n is illegal.

Shiwa, who noted that the school in Idah charges about N30,000 for forms while N265,000 is being charged as tuition fees, said the institutio­n is cashing in on the unemployme­nt rate in the country to extort money from innocent Nigerians who are desirous of jobs.

“During the raid, various military hard wares and documents were recovered alongside a pump action gun and hundreds of cartridges while about 5000 students are said to have so far enrolled in the school which commenced operation last year,” he said.

Shiwa said they were in the school on the instructio­ns of Chief of Naval Staff and the governor of Kogi State, adding that those behind the establishm­ent of the school will be handed over to the police for prosecutio­n while the students trainees would be released to go back to their various states.

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