Navy arrests owner, students of fake maritime

School

The Nigerian Navy has arrested one Origha Charles, said to be the Director of Studies of a fake maritime training school in Calabar. They also arrested and paraded six students of the said school called ‘Flight Marine Safety Academy.’

The Commanding Officer of the Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Victory, Commodore Frederick Ogu said while parading them that they were arrested at the Federal Inland Waterways jetty in Calabar while returning from Cameroon. He said they had on them the same uniforms and identity cards of the Nigerian Navy.

According to Ogu, they operated without accreditation or authorization from either NIMASA or any relevant security agency. “Their ID cards look exactly like naval ID cards. They were just coming back from Cameroon when they were arrested. The word ‘Marine Navy’ is written on their ID cards. Apart from the security threat which such anomaly poses, the ID card alone could be used for fraudulent activities”, he said.

He added that due to the security challenges the country is currently facing, it is illogical for any self-styled naval training school to engage in such high profile security aberration, adding “these days, people are trained for all sorts of nefarious activities”.

According to him, those the fake school listed in their letter-head paper as members of the Board of Directors have disowned them, and that for someone to enrol, he must pay more than N120, 000. The navy has since handed them over to the Cross River State commandant of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr Benito Eze who promised to ensure their prosecution without delay.