Wike increases number of Special Assistants to 200,000

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike has increased the number of his Special Assistants on Political Unit Affairs from 100,000 to 200,000.

He announced the increase while inaugurating the second and last batch of the initial 100,000 assistants from the Rivers East Senatorial District on Friday.

The first batch of about 45,000 assistants from Rivers South-East and Rivers West Senatorial Districts were sworn-in by the Governor on Thursday.

The appointment of the unprecedented number of aides was first announced by the state government on October 11 with an initial figure of 14,000.

The number was doubled to 28,000 the next day, and then to 50,000.

During a recent media chat, Governor Wike announced that the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in Rivers State have discussed and agreed that the number of appointees as Special Assistants be increased to 100,000.

The appointees were selected evenly from each of the political units across the 319 Wards in the 23 Local Government Areas of the state represented.

Their job is to send in honest feedbacks from the people at the grassroots to the state government

They are to communicate the feelings of the people towards the Wike administration through the 319 Liaison Officers at the Ward levels, who will then report to the 32 State Constituency Liaison Officers for transmission to the office of the Governor.

The 319 Wards Liaison Officers and 32 State Constituency Liaison Officers were sworn in earlier this week.

Speaking at the inauguration of the last batch of the 100,000 Special Assistants at the Adokiye Amiesimaka stadium, Governor Wike said the appointment is part of the “stomach infrastructure” he promised to execute alongside the physical infrastructure of his administration.

He clarified that the essence of the huge number of appointees is to enbale him finish “very very well”.