‘RSG Spends N6bn Yearly On Overseas Scholarship’

The Rivers State Government says it spends over N8 billion annually on various overseas scholarships.

Secretary to the State Government, Mr George Feyii disclosed this yesterday in Port Harcourt during an orientation programme for Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA), Canada bound overseas scholarship.

Mr Feyii said that government continuous investment in the programme was to create a pool of manpower for the management of the various infrastructural facilities the government is building across the state.

He urged them to reciprocate the gesture by focusing on their studies, stressing that by so doing, they would be justifying the huge investment the government is putting on them.

Also speaking, the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, His Excellency, Chris Kuta, urged the students to count themselves lucky to be selected to go to Canada for their education, stressing that in Canada, there are representatives of all countries in the world.

While emphasising that Canadian education is second to none in the world, the High Commissioner said that the programme would provide the students the opportunity to make friends and network with people from all over the world.

He however stated the need for them to be inquisitive about affairs in the country, noting that by so doing, they would be introduced in a new vista of opportunities that would help them to be distinctive in their chosen areas of endeavour.

Kuta further noted that his government was committed to its strategic partnership with Nigeria, and described Nigeria as a growing power whose economy would soon outclass that of china.

He said that the Nigerian Canadian Bi-National Commission has also generated a lot of investments for the two countries.

In his opening remarks, the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA), Mr Noble Pepple said that a total of 107 students would be travelling for the programme.

Mr Pepple said that this figure would increase the number of Rivers students under the scholarship scheme in Canada to 412 and described it as the largest number so far under overseas scholarship in the country.

He also advised them to see themselves as ambassadors of the state and Nigeria in their host country.

L-R: Commissioner in Charge of Political Party Affairs and Legal Services, Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, Mrs Ngozi Ajayi, member of staff, Mrs Ibiso Dakoru and RSIEC Chairman, Prof. Augustine Ahiauzu, during a news conference on the coming LGAs Re-Run elections in Rivers State.