Ex-Uniport VC Tasks Rivers Youth On Peace, Dev

A former vice chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Professor Nimi Briggs has appealed to Rivers people particularly the youth to be peaceful in their agitation for economic empowerment and development.

He said that the use of violence and arms struggle in it self would not bring the desired development in the area, but that through proper engagement and dialogue, peace and development can be achieved in the kingdom.

Briggs, who was speaking to newsmen at the Port Harcourt International Airport on his way to Abuja, said that the Kalabari Kingdom where he grew up as a young boy was known for peace.

“We Kalabari people feel very sad with the way things have turned out in our territory, in our land, and we are appealing to our boys and our girls that in all these issues in which we carry guns, and other weapons; they are not in the interest of the Kalabari people.

“We are not differentiating here, whether it is Buguma, Bakana or Abonema, but I am talking in terms of Kalabari in general terms”.

“I grew up in Kalabari land as a small boy and it was a wonderful place to live, and it is the Kalabari Kingdom that gave me all my orientation in life.

“At my age now, my orientation has given me all the successes had attained in life, and I want to encourage the younger generation to tow the path of peace instead of using gun and violence in agitating for whatever resources or economic empowerment”, Briggs said.

He said that Chief A.K. Horsfall had been a role model for peace and reasoning in Kalabari land, and urged all to use the occasion of his 75th birthday and emulate his examples to attain those heights of development.