The Rivers State Government says, the sum of N6 billion was spent last year for the sponsorship of the Governor’s special overseas and local scholarships.
The Executive Director of the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA), Mr. Noble Pepple, who disclosed this at the presentation of the 2013 Annual Report of the agency in Port Harcourt the state capital, said that over N5 billion was spent on the Governor’s special overseas scholarships while local scholarships, including the Greater Horizon opportunities (GHOP) programme gulped about a billion Naira.
Pepple said that 312 new scholarships with greater focus on medical and health-related disciplines were awarded, stressing that 238 of these were undergraduate students while 74 were post-graduate students.
According to him, “of these, 149 travelled to their study destinations in 2013, bringing the total number of students studying overseas to 1,072 by the end of 201`3”.
He further said that higher consideration was given to medical students applying to study at post-graduate level, noting that of the 74 post-graduate awarded in 2013, “scholars in mechanical and health sciences took up 20 places.
“We also established opportunities for students to study medicine at Universities in the Caribbean and the Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic to accommodate the additional placement for medical studies.
“With these recent additions, we were able to increase the number of students studying medicine by 56, brining the total to 89”, he said.
Pepple said that during the year under review, 11 physically-challenged students also graduated from Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom with Daniel Nlemogu bagging a First class Honours Degree in law, while Betty Odema, another physically-challenged student won the Vice Chancellor’s award for outstanding personal achievement and commitment.
The Executive Director also said that five students also graduated in the Greater Horizon opportunities programme last year.
Meanwhile, Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency (RSSDA) has said that it expended over N2 billion on other services in 2013.
This is contained in the 2013 Annual Report just released to the press last Friday in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
A break down of the figures shows that over N380 million on the Songhai Phase Two Scheme, while over N152 million was spent on the workmanship and technical training Centre (WTTC), at the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori.
The agency in the year under review also spent over N134 million for the development of small and medium Enterprises, farmers’ support gulped over N70 million while Allanbiaka domestication gulped the sum of N52 million.
The agency also spent over N38 million on cassava expansion programme, just as the Excellence in Local Government Initiative took N26 million, job creation swallowed over N31 million, while the Rivers State Partners for Sustainable Development gulped N30 million.
The report also indicated that over N22 million and N11 million were spent on the partnership Development (Young Einstein/PIND) Empowerment programme and allied charities, respectively while the graduate work experience placement scheme guled over N20 million.
Similarly, over N3 million was spent on the Rivers State University of Science and Technology Agriculture Students Scholarship Scheme, while farmers’ registration programme gulped N15 million.
Addressing newsmen at the unveiling of the report, the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of the agency, Mr. Noble Pepple described the year 2013 “as a tough one for the agency”.
Pepple said that, despite the situation, the agency has sustained progress in some of the critical sectors.
He said that, the agency has continued the development of the Rivers Songhai Initiative with the introduction of improved crop and soil management technologies at Songhai Farm, including plastic mulches and effective micro-organism technology.
“We made progress in setting up the first agro-support centre at Onne which is connected to Songhai farm”, he said.
The Executive director also said that, the agency has progressed its collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for the establishment of a staple crop processing zone on aquaculture in Rivers state, and also secure land for the project at Okorolo in Andoni Local Government Area of the state.
Cross section of former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly at the valedictory session in honour of the first Speaker of the House, Late Chief R.R.Briggs at the state House of Assembly, last Friday. Photo: Chris Monyanaga
Benice Irugunima