Fund Your Agencies, Wike Challenges FG

The Rivers State Governor, Chief Nyesom Wike has called on the Federal Government to take concrete steps to fund federal agencies across the country.
Speaking during a courtesy visit by the Management of National Examinations Council (NECO) at the Government House, Port Harcourt, last Friday, Wike described as unfortunate the situation where federal agencies rely on state governments for survival.
Wike said: “The Federal Government should be able to cater for federal agencies. The Federal Government should take care of their responsibilities.
“If they cannot fund these agencies, they should devolve power to the states and also allocate more revenue to the states.”
He noted that if the Federal Government was serious about education, the education agencies should get adequate funding.
The governor said that the reliance on states for funding was not restricted to federal agencies in the education sector.
“The Police, Army, Navy, Civil Defence, all agencies rely on the states for logistics and financial support “, he claimed.
Wike explained that the Rivers State Government would pay for Rivers children writing NECO Examinations, and directed NECO officials to liaise with the Rivers State Ministry of Education to determine the number of students who would the writing the forthcoming examinations.
The Rivers State governor donated two official vehicles to the Rivers State Office of NECO, and also donated an office space to the examination body.
Earlier, the Acting Registrar of NECO, Abubakar Gana, had commended the Rivers State governor for his immense contributions to the development of education in the country.
Gana urged the Rivers State Government to finance the registration of Rivers children in the forthcoming NECO examinations, just as he also thanked Wike for his outstanding projects’ delivery since he became the governor of the state.