It is not news that our successive governments are unable or unwilling to sustain developmental plans and projects. This practice spreads across all strata from federal to state and local government tiers. This has led to a plethora of abandoned projects littered around the country begging for attention.
One of the reasons for this ego. Even our most well-meaning politicians fall for the myth that for their tenures in office to have true value, they must begin projects of their own, rather than improving on or finishing projects by their predecessors. It is even worse when the predecessor is from a rival political party and had to be ousted for the new office holder. The interest of the citizen is sacrificed on the altar of political ambition, as a result we’ve seen the failed execution of many government policies that should have propelled Nigeria’s growth but were abandoned to start from scratch.
This predilection to abandon projects is the reason why the Rivers state governor Nyesom Wike is currently in the news, and how he has politicized the Rivers State foreign scholarship scheme, causing several hundred Nigerian students untold anguish and embarrassment at the British universities where they are currently studying.
BACKGROUND OF THE STORY
The Administration of former Governor Rotimi Amaechi established the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (abbreviated as RSSDA) in the year 2007 as an agency of the government dedicated to promoting programmes and activities aimed at eradicating poverty, developing rural areas and empowering the youth. The overseas scholarship Program for undergraduate and postgraduate is one of such and this is why they embarked on such.
According to information on RSSDA website, they send these student abroad for various reasons which includes.
1- Decay in the education sector occasioned by incessant strikes, poor infrastructures etc in our tertiary institutions.
2- Deprivation in employment opportunities to the Rivers people by multinational companies (MNC) who source for their manpower from outside the State. Need to meet and combat by these MNC excuses that the State lacks requisite manpower for those sectors that are within our grasp.
As at the year 2015 when Governor Rotimi Amaechi ended his second term as governor, more than 800 Rivers students that benefited from the Program have been sent to countries like India, Canada and United Kingdom.
However as Governor Wike was elected in May 2015, many of the initiatives of his successor was reverse. This reversal/abandonment of existing projects affected the Rivers State foreign scholarship programme, put on hold in that was stopped in December 2015 which has placed the future of the affected individuals on a lifeline.
The Rivers State Governor is enjoined to separate the education of these poor Rivers indigenes from his politicking for the sake of the future of Rivers State in Particular and Nigeria in general.
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