Ann-Kio Briggs | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Nigerian |
Occupation(s) | Environmental and human rights activist |
Years active | 1998–present |
Known for | Activism |
Notable work | She is the founder and director of the non-governmental organization Agape Birthrights |
Children | 4 |
Ann-Kio Briggs, alternatively spelled Annkio Briggs, (born 29 July 1952 in England) is an English-born Nigerian environmentalist and human rights activist. [1] [2] [3] She is the founder and director of the non-governmental organization Agape Birthrights. As of 2011, she was spokesperson of the Ijaw Republican Assembly (IRA) as well as the United Niger Delta Energy Development Security Strategy (UNDEDSS). [4] [5]
Briggs was born on 29 July 1952 in England. She was born to a British mother and an Ijaw marine engineer. During her early years, she was taken to live with her paternal grandmother, who raised her alongside her father in Abonnema, Rivers State. While in Abonnema, she completed her elementary school and enrolled at Holy Rosary Girls School in Port Harcourt for her secondary education. From (1967 to 1970), her academic studies were impeded by the civil war. After the war ended, Briggs moved with her family to England, where she studied Marketing and got married. She and her husband had four children together and divorced in 1998. Briggs is fluent in Igbo, as well as her native language, Kalabari. She also speaks Pidgin English. [6] [5]
In 1998, after several years in Europe, she returned to the Niger Delta and established Agape Birthrights, a non-governmental and a non-profit organization, [7] [6] having its headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Briggs, through her organization, has helped some developing areas to document cleaning of oil spillage and fighting against injustices and marginalisation. [8] She also collaborates internationally with other organizations home and abroad. [9] [10] [5]
Briggs received the Ijaw heroes award from the Ijaw republic assembly. [11]
The Ijaw people, also spelled Ịjọ, are an ethnic group found in the Niger Delta region in Nigeria, with significant population clusters in Bayelsa, Delta, and Rivers. They are also in Edo, and small parts of Akwa Ibom occupying six Nigerian states. Many are found as migrant fishermen in camps and settlements in Benue, Ondo and Kogi states and as far west as Sierra Leone, Ghana and as far east as Gabon. As of 2023, Nigeria's Ijaw population is estimated at over 15 million, accounting for around 6.9% of the country's 223 million people, positioning them as the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria. The Ijaws are the most populous tribe inhabiting the Niger Delta region, and one of the world's most ancient peoples.
Delta State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Named after the Niger Delta—a large part of which is in the state—the state was formed from the former Bendel State, on 27 August 1991. Bordered on the north by Edo State, the east by Anambra and Rivers states, and that south by Bayelsa State while to the west is the Bight of Benin which covers about 160 kilometres of the state's coastline. The state was initially created with 12 local government areas in 1991, but was later expanded to 19 and now has 25 local government areas. Its capital city is Asaba which is located along the River Niger on the northeastern end of the state, while the state's economic center is the city of Warri on the southwestern coastline.
The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitical zone, one state (Ondo) from South West geopolitical zone and two states from South East geopolitical zone.
Rivers State, also known as Rivers, is a state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria. Formed on 27 May 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include Imo and Anambra to the north, Abia and Akwa Ibom to the east, and Bayelsa and Delta to the west.The State capital, Port Harcourt, is a metropolis that is considered to be the commercial center of the Nigerian oil industry.
The Ogoni is an ethnic group located in Rivers South-East senatorial district of Rivers State, in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria. They number just over 2 million and live in a 1,050-square-kilometre (404-square-mile) homeland which they also refer to as Ogoniland. They share common oil-related environmental problems with the Ijaw people of the Niger Delta.
Bayelsa state is a state in the South South region of Nigeria, located in the core of the Niger Delta. Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and was carved out from Rivers State, making it one of the newest states in the federation. The capital, Yenagoa, is susceptible to high risk of annual flooding. It shares a boundary with Rivers State to the east and Delta State to the north across the Niger River for 17km and the Forçados River for 198km, with the waters of the Atlantic Ocean dominating its southern borders. It has a total area of 10,773 square kilometres (4,159 sq mi). The state comprises eight local government areas: Ekeremor, Kolokuma/Opokuma, Yenagoa, Nembe, Ogbia, Sagbama, Brass and Southern Ijaw. Bayelsa state is regarded as the least populous state in Nigeria with an estimated population of over 2,530,000 as at 2022. Being in the Niger Delta, Bayelsa State has a riverine and estuarine setting, with bodies of water within the state making the development of significant road infrastructure, quite difficult.
The Eastern Region was an administrative region in Nigeria, dating back originally from the division of the colony Southern Nigeria in 1954. Its first capital was Calabar. The capital was later moved to Enugu and the second capital was Umuahia. The region was officially divided in 1967 into three new states, the East-Central State, Rivers State and South-Eastern State. East-Central State had its capital at Enugu, which is now part of Enugu State.
Asari-Dokubo, formerly Melford Dokubo Goodhead Jr. and typically referred to simply as Asari, is a major political figure of the Ijaw ethnic group in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. He was president of the Ijaw Youth Council for a time beginning in 2001 and later founded the Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force which would become one of the most prominent armed groups operating in the Niger Delta region. He is a Muslim with populist views and an anti-government stance that have made him a folk hero amongst certain members of the local population.
The current conflict in the Niger Delta first arose in the early 1990s over tensions between foreign oil corporations and a number of the Niger Delta's minority ethnic groups who feel they are being exploited, particularly the Ogoni and the Ijaw. Ethnic and political unrest continued throughout the 1990s despite the return to democracy and the election of the Obasanjo government in 1999. Struggle for oil wealth and environmental harm over its impacts has fueled violence between ethnic groups, causing the militarization of nearly the entire region by ethnic militia groups, Nigerian military and police forces, notably the Nigerian Mobile Police. The violence has contributed to Nigeria's ongoing energy supply crisis by discouraging foreign investment in new power generation plants in the region.
The Niger Delta Congress (NDC) is a socio-political organization of the ethnic nationalities of the Niger Delta region. The NDC was established on 26 December 2019 in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, to serve the purpose of uniting the minority nationalities of the Niger Delta region as a means to achieving political and economic autonomy for the peoples of the region. The NDC is under the leadership of an executive council that comprises representatives of the different nationalities that make up the region. The current executive of the NDC which is in acting capacity is led by Nubari Saatah as President, and Mudiaga Ogboru as its National Spokesperson.
The Kalabari are a sub-group of the Ijaw people living in the eastern Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Originally, they were known as the Awome. The name Kalabari was derived from their ancestor Perebo Kalabari who was a son of Meinowei. Their original settlement was spelt as Calabar by the Portuguese which was pronounced Kalabari. This settlement (town) was abandoned as the people moved to other fishing settlements. Portuguese settlers continued to maintain the name Calabari which became surrounded by the Efik people of Duke town. When the British came the word Calabari was pronounced as Calabar (Kalaba) instead of Kalabari. At this time the original Ijoid Kalabaris had moved to a new location which became the new Calabar territory since the old Calabar is occupied by different people. Old Calabar became an Efik town with time which has the name Calabar.
Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro, known as "Boro", was a Nigerian nationalist and soldier of Ijaw descent. He is considered a pioneer of minority rights activism in Nigeria.
Dẹgẹma is an Edoid language spoken in two separate communities on Degema Island in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, by about 120,000 people, according to 1991 census figures. The two communities are Usokun-Degema and Degema Town in the Degema Local Government Area in Rivers State. Each community speaks a mutually intelligible variety of Dẹgẹma, known by the names of the communities speaking them: the Usokun variety and the Degema Town variety. Both varieties are similar in their phonological, morphological, syntactic and semantic properties.
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Nimi Dimkpa Briggs was a Nigerian academic, scholar and Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
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The Briggs family is a prominent and influential lineage in Rivers State, Nigeria, deeply embedded in royalty, chieftaincy, and leadership within Kalabari land. The family is extensive and complex, encompassing multiple branches and houses, and has strong connections to the Amachree Royal family of the Kalabari Kingdom. Historical accounts suggest that Amachree (I), originally migrated from Amakalakala in Ogbia, another Ijaw sub-group.