EXTRA: I’ll increase number of special assistants to 100,000, says Wike

Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, has pledged to increase the number of recently-appointed special assistants from 50,000 to 100,000.

The governor announced the plan in a chat with Channels TV on Friday.

On Wednesday, Wike appointed 28,000 special assistants for polling units in Rivers.

A day later, he added another 22,000 persons, taking to total to 50,000 political assistants.

Speaking on the motive behind the spate of appointments, Wike said they help the government garner information at the grassroots level while also providing jobs for the people.

He added that people are happy about the move and call for more inclusion.

The governor also added that more civil servants will be employed before his tenure ends.

“Who determines whether the appointments are burdensome or not? The people appointed — are they not Rivers people? Are they not going to be paid? Is it not the duty of the government to reduce poverty? Is it not the duty of the government to empower its people?” he said.

“If I had the money, I’m going to increase it to 100,000. If you do not have the funds to pay, then that is the problem.

“Let me say this authoritatively, we will increase it to 100,000.

“It is part of what we promised our people. We do not get enough information that we are supposed to get. We employ these people to go and find out how the government is doing at the polling unit level.

“These people are political appointees, but we are also going to employ civil servants before we leave.”