By Loveth Ojogun
Comrade Rosemary Naingba, the President of the Ijaw Women Connect (IWC) worldwide, has stated that Ijaw people can never be conquered.
She made the statement on the occasion of its 2018 Ijaw women’s day annual celebration held on Tuesday, November 13th in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
According to her, “I think it is a challenge that has been on me and this challenge is not new and therefore as I am re-elected president to run this congress for a second tenure, I am going to change a lot of things basically capacity building. Human capacity building is what we need and our women should not be left out.
“As you can see we have created indigenous human capacity development companies that has been put together to train young women, basically to empower them, encourage them and mentor them to become better women in the society.
“I think that these are enough reasons in developing women in the Ijaw nation. So I will deliberate on that too in this tenure.
“The struggle has kept me on; the marginalization of my people has kept me on; the degraded environment of Niger Delta; the pollution of our river; our swamp; our mangroves are nowhere to be found anymore as the ecosystem has been devastated because of the oil exploitation and pollution. So, that has kept me going.
“As an Ijaw woman it breaks my heart to see a nation this rich with natural resources and economic strength been devastated by oil exploitation and neglected by the same people who explore this oil.
“What has kept me going is that we must produce more people that will advocate for resource ownership, restructuring of Nigeria and advocate for a better Ijaw nation. That is why I say I will not be subdued and I’ve said it several times that Ijaw people will never be conquered.”
The highlight of the event was the presentation of awards by the group to various personalities and organizations that have their quota to the development of the Niger Delta among which was GbaramatuVoice meidia, which was presented the award of ‘Most Outstanding Media of the Year 2018.’
The award was presented to the media organization for its straight forward, quality and outstanding reportage of news event. And their determination to go to where other organizations do not dare to go to obtain factual information.
The program had many important personalities present giving their unreserved thought for the liberation of the Niger Delta. Some of whom are: Ms Annkio Briggs, Matron /BOT IWC Worldwide. Moderator; Comrade Alfred Kimipado Nimizigha, Secretary General Ijaw Youth Council (IYC); Ms Ibiba Don-Pedro, Niger Delta Rights Activist/Public Interest Journalist; Chairman of the occasion, Barrister Iniruo Wills, President Ijaw Professionals Association, IPA, Homeland Chapter and Chief Vero Tangbowei Emmanuel JP, the Ibe-benemo Ere of Gbaranmatu Kingdom, amongst others.
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