Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike

Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers says his administration will support all Federal Government programmes that will benefit the people of the state.

Wike gave the assurance on Tuesday at the beginning of a two-day stakeholders’ workshop on Home Grown School Feeding programme in Port Harcourt.

The programme was organised in collaboration with the Federal Government.

Represented by Mr Kenneth Kobani, the Secretary to the State Government, Wike also commended President Muhammadu Buhari for choosing Rivers for the programme’s pilot scheme.

He said that the Home Grown School Feeding programme was beneficial to Nigerians, especially the most vulnerable children.

“You see, the most vulnerable children are those to benefit from the programme, the children of the poor,” he said.

The governor noted that the programme was intended to lift economic burden from parents of indigent pupils in public primary schools.

“I commend the President for the programme because it will encourage parents, improve academic activities and school enrolment for children,” Wike said.

Wike also urged stakeholders to ensure that the programme successfully alleviate what he called the suffering of children in primary schools.

He noted that the state government would support the programme in its entirety and ensure its success.

Earlier the federal government also pledged to support the Rivers Government to succeed in the Home Grown School Feeding programme.

The Home Grown School Feeding Programme is designed to feed pupils from Primary one to primary three in public schools in Nigeria.

An official of the Presidency, Mrs Abimbola Adesoke, who represented Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, stated the federal government’s position at the launch of the event.

She said the federal government chose Rivers as one of the 24 states for the pilot scheme because of the love and care it had for the vulnerable children.

He said that the programme was designed to eradicate poverty and enable parents and their indigent children to receive education.

The Vice President stated that the federal government would form a synergy with the state government to map out strategies on how the programme would be successful.

Osinbajo said that the workshop was also designed to educate and sensitise stakeholders on how to achieve the desired result from the Home Grown School Feeding programme.

He also called on all stakeholders to join forces with both the federal and the state government to ensure that the programme was successful.

In his response, the Rivers Commissioner for Education, Prof. Kaniye Ebeku commended both the federal and the state government for approving the programme.

He said that about 5.5 million children would benefit from the programme, noting also that indigent children would feed once every day in the school.

(NAN)