Tony John, Port Harcourt
Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said there would be no increment of fees in the institutions owned by the state government.
Wike, who spoke, on Thursday, during the flag-off of the National Union of Rivers State Students (NURSS) at the Rivers State University in Port Harcourt, stressed that no head of institution has the permission to increase fees.
He said: “I don’t interfere with the running of the state university; but when I heard they were discussing the increment of fees, I had to intervene to immediately stop them.
“I don’t want any institution to announce the increment of fees. There should be no increment of fees at any level. I’m stopping it because things are very difficult.”
The governor, however, regretted that people play politics with education in the state, and advised Rivers citizens to shun people who politicise education.
On the bursary to Rivers students in tertiary institutions, Governor Wike announced that the state government would pay bursary to students after conducting biometrics of eligible students.
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The governor charged the leaders of National Union of Rivers State Students (NURSS) to ensure the judicious use of the new national secretariat and said the new facility should not generate crisis among them.
He thanked the Rivers State University for making land available for the construction of the NURSS national secretariat.
Wike further said the project would be completed in three months’ time, disclosing that the state government has paid 50 percent of the project fee.
In a project description, Special Adviser on Special Projects to the Governor, Alabo George Kerley, said the new NURSS secretariat covers 450 metres with a multi-purpose hall, offices and restaurant.
He said the secretariat was designed to be a revenue earner for the students body. He thanked the governor for constructing the secretariat when the immediate past government failed the students.
The university Vice Chancellor Prof. Blessing Didia, said by the construction of the new national secretariat, Wike has proven to be students friendly. He said the university will stand by the governor beyond 2019.
Pro-Chancellor of the university, Justice Iche Ndu, said this was the seventh major project of Governor Wike in the university.
President of NURSS, Patrick Ogbuehi, said the new national secretariat would re-define the union and make it function effectively.