Briggs scores Jonathan high over convocation

Bode Olagoke

A delegate at the ongoing National Conference, Ms Annkio Briggs, has described the convocation of the national conference by President Goodluck Jonathan as the best thing that has happened in recent times.

Briggs, who is also the spokesperson for the Ijaw Republican Assembly, said she believes Nigerians must restructure the country by taking advantage of the conference to keep the country together.
In a chat with journalists in Abuja, Thursday, she said “there must be terms on which we will stay together. All the regions must bring something to the table to sustain and build this country. The development, growth and unity of this nation must be based on equality and justice.”

“The expectations of our people matter a lot, my ethnic group is Ijaw, I want what is good for my region and Nigeria as a country. What is good for the people of the Niger Delta and the people of Nigeria matters.
We must not put aside the expectations or grievances of any region. We are listening to one another at the conference. I have always known the needs of my people, but at the conference, others have also brought up their wants and needs from the
Nigerian state; that shows there is an urgent need to discuss the future of this country.

“We have come to a point where, if we say we truly love Nigeria, we must work to make it an indivisible country based on equality. Every group must come down from their high heights to talk, it does not matter the population of any region. If we must work together we must be seen as equals in order to build the greatest country in black Africa. We cannot ignore what is going on in the conference.
“All Nigerians must see that the conference works, it is not about the five hundred people picked to discuss, it is about how to move Nigeria forward. It will be very bad if we don’t think of how to move forward in the next hundred years.