AT THE PORT HARCOURT DIGITAL SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAM ORGANIZED BY DUMO LULU BRIGGS YOUTH FOUNDATION IN CONJUNCTION WITH GOOGLE
Hurrying from the land of Queen Elizabeth (the United Kingdom) to honor the young Riverians who converged at the Arena in Port Harcourt on the last day of the digital skills acquisition program, his bird touched down at a Lagos Airport, then at the Port Harcourt International Airport, and quickly after the night’s rest, he broke into a sprint at the given chance to coalesce with the young people at the Digital Training ground. He didn’t prepare any speech; there was no need and time for that. He is already well educated and equipped on the matter; Industrial advancement is his trade and passion, plus, he has the oratorical advantage, and so he took the rostrum right away and said thus:
“My name is Dumo Lulu Briggs. I feel excited today, and my excitement is that Rivers state is getting prepared to take the lead in this country. I was praying that our youths will be interested in learning because the impression everywhere all over the country is that our youths are more interested in guns and not in education. Now, your example yesterday and today has just proven them wrong. What it clearly means is that we have not bothered to invest enough in our young. We have not bothered to give them direction, and there is no greater responsibility that we have, whether you are government, whether you are in business, if you are an elite, you have no greater responsibility than to educate the next generation. And then we know that our economy is also oil dependent, but you can see that as though there’s a conspiracy; all over the world, there’s an effort to reduce dependence on oil. Very soon, even the cars that you drive will be electric. So, it tells you that technology is the way to go. ICT, Information Communication Technology is the oil of the 21st century.
I am glad that you are getting actively engaged because today, you can use it in all spheres; you can use it to socialize, use it to communicate; I mean as you do on the social media groups etc. Most of us think that we can use ICT to just engage with our friends; just gist, (how are you? Good morning, how was your night). The world over is using ICT to make money, ICT is a business. And that is why we deemed it fit to partner with Google to come and explain to our young how to make the most of the next economy. You are going to be very active players, we expect a revolution in Rivers state, we expect to be number one, and I am glad that we are so actively engaged. We have to use education for everything; it has to be the corner stone of any development plan. And there is no better group to equip with that plan than the young people that I see here. I see all of these faces and I can tell you that Google is also very proud of you; this is the largest crowd at any Google event. The world over, this is the largest crowd at any Google event, so, it tells me that we are prepared to take positive advantage of any opportunity given to us. We are a resource people, we are highly intelligent, we just need to be motivated, and I personally will continue to invest in the youths of Rivers state.
I’ve had to set up a foundation to see how we can help our young more through mentorship. We don’t have to throw money at situations. We have to teach our people how to fish rather than give them fish and I know that all of you are eager to take on every opportunity that would come your way. I am also prepared. We are going to have another event much larger than this; I didn’t anticipate that we were going to have a crowd like this. Now that I know that there is that zeal; that desire by all of us to learn, we are going to organize very shortly, perhaps in the next two-three months, we are going to have another event like this, much bigger. And we are going to also try to see how you will not just come and learn; if there’s any other form of assistance we can give to take you slightly from point A to point B, we shall make all of those provisions.
My interest is you, I had to cut short a program I was having in the UK, because I didn’t think that I would have done you well if I didn’t try to come and encourage you and see the faces of young people that is the hope of this state; the hope of this nation. So I had to cut short my engagement and I arrived Lagos last night and I took the flight to be here today. I thank you for allowing me to engage with you; it’s actually my honor, it’s a privilege that I will not take for granted, and I am going to very quickly drop the microphone so that you can continue to learn. The essence of this gathering is for you to be equipped with the tools that you need to succeed in this very highly competitive 21st century. My coming to speak to you is just to encourage you but I tell you that in the next two three months we shall have a bigger event, more enlightening, richer than this and I assure you that you will go back with something slightly in addition to what you’ve had between yesterday and today.
I thank you so much and I thank Google.
There are two important moments in the life of every human being: the day you were born and the day you discover why you were born. I discovered that I was born to serve people and we don’t have to wait to be elected into any position to do that service. So, be assured that this engagements shall continue until we get to a point where we know that yes Rivers State is born again in terms of education. We have lost our status in the Nigerian Economy; we have to recover that, we have to be the California of America, if we cannot, because Lagos is so far ahead of us right now; we have to at least be the Texas of Nigeria. So, we are starting a revolution to educate our people and that revolution begins with you. Thank you.”
It is unquestionable that words spoken from the heart and not from papers, bear the mark of originality and passion. May God strengthen DLB and bless Rivers people.
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