President Calls for Peace

In a desperate effort to end on-going hostility, the federal government of Nigeria has made a heart felt plea to militants in the Niger Delta to bring their grievances to a peaceful end. President Umar Yar'Adua who delivered the appeal on Saturday, at the 24th convocation ceremony of University of Port Harcourt, adding that the violent activity was hindering any future plans for development in the area.

He promised that he and his administration were to make lasting changes on the issue of underdevelopment in the area. The oil-rich region, which is responsible for a sizeable chunk of the Nigerian economy, is in squalor and lacking by modern standards. According to Yar'Adua, all the area needs is a little more time and a peaceful environment.

"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 said.

Yar Adua, who was represented in proxy by his Minister for Education, Dr Aja Nwachukwu, also called for a closer look at the nation's education layout for the lower level institutions. The goal is for them to meet contemporary challenges in information technology, stating that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, or the ASUU, and other allied unions should eliminate strikes as a means to voice their demands.

"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.