Jimitota Onoyume

Port Harcourt

THE Federal Government has made a passionate appeal to militants in the Niger Delta to give peace a chance. President Umar Yar'Adua who handed down the appeal, yesterday, at the 24th convocation ceremony of University of Port Harcourt said their actions were slowing down development programmes in the region.

He assured that his administration was set to make a significant difference on the problem of underdevelopment in the area. And all it needed at the moment, according to him, was a peaceful atmosphere for development to thrive. "I want to take the liberty of this ceremony to, once again, appeal to our brothers who have taken to arms in the Niger Delta to give peace a chance. Meaningful development cannot and has never thrived in an atmosphere of rancor, resentment, in-fighting and civil disobedience. "Let us bury the hatchet, sheath our swords, and lay down our arms and give peace a chance. Let us give government an opportunity to redress the perceived injustices suffered by the region in the past.

The benefits of broad-based education may elude our children who will be saddled with the leadership roles in future if the present state of insecurity persists, and the culture of peace especially in the Niger Delta is not consolidated", the President pleaded. Yar Adua, who was represented by his Minister for Education, Dr Aja Nwachukwu, also called for a review of the nation's education curricula for tertiary institutions to meet contemporary challenges in information technology and entrepreneurial skills, adding that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and other allied unions should do away with strike as a way to press home their demands just as he noted effort by the Federal Government to address the decay in the university system. "Let me, once more, appeal to the various unions on our campuses to become more innovative on conflict resolutions since strikes are becoming obsolete and out of fashion as a means of drawing government attention to the challenges in the education sector. "Strikes cannot in any way contribute to the high quality bench-marks that the unions are championing rather they erode the quality of educational performance in our country. Therefore, the academic communities must conduct in-house soul searching to reverse the emerging trend which results in the exodus of our quality students to neighbouring ECOWAS countries due to instability in our academic calendar because of incessant strikes in the system", the president stated.

He hailed the decision of the university to confer a honorary doctorate degree on Vice President Goodluck Jonathan, while, in passing a vote of confidence on him, described him as reliable, open minded , honest , transparent and positively self-motivated to offer his very best to the service of the country. In his remark, Jonathan thanked the authorities of the university for the honour, saying he was one of its pioneer students in 1977, just as he urged Nigerian universities to remain the centre for excellent scholarship. He said the universities could continue to achieve this if they are not left in the hands of those working at cross purposes with the vision. Vice chancellor of the institution, Prof Don Baridam, decried the negative impact of the Niger Delta crisis on scholarship in the region. According to him, it had made the area to be less attractive to scholars from other parts of the globe. Governors of Rivers, Cross River , Delta, and Edo , Abia, Imo, Nasarawa and Bayelsa states were present at the convocation ceremony.

                                                                                         allafrica.com