Bayelsa governor charges Ijaw to embrace education

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29 August 2011

Bayelsa governor charges Ijaw to embrace education

Only quality and appropriate education can guarantee freedom for peoples and the development of any nation, Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva, has said.

Mr Sylva, who delivered a paper titled "Education is Freedom", in London at the weekend during the 2011 Isaac Boro Day Celebration organised by the Ijaw Peoples Association (IPA) of Great Britain and Ireland, also listed education as the "solution to all societal ills" and called on the Ijaw people to embrace education.

"The Ijaw people are known for their love for justice and independent mindset. These two qualities have largely defined the relationship of the Ijaw people with their neighbours and the entire Nigeria nation," he said.

He noted that for several decades, the energies of the Ijaw people were channelled towards challenging injustice "from the Adaka Boro era of 1966 to the Kaiama Declaration of 1998, pointing out however, that "today, we can say some progress has been made in the struggle for social justice.

"For the Ijaw and, indeed, the Niger Delta, I make bold to say that the emergence of Goodluck Jonathan as President is the fruit of our first struggle for freedom.