Honour from homeland for Ibinabo Fiberisima

Honour and recognition has come for actress, director and Nigerian host of the Miss Earth pageant, Ibinabo Fiberisima. This time, the honour is from home- the Ijaw Republican Assembly (Patriotic Front) and Ijaw Media Action Initiative (IMA).

Before a well-attended ceremony held in Port Harcourt penultimate week, IB, as the actress and philanthropist is simply called, was honoured with the prestigious award of ‘Hero of Ijaw Nation.’

In the citation read at the ceremony, the organisers said IB deserved to be honoured “for contributing to the uplifting and improvement of others through entertainment.”

Ibinabo, who is already prepping for this year’s edition of Miss Earth Nigeria, thanked the Ijaw Foundation for the honour and recognition and for its sincere efforts and those of other sons and daughters of the land towards the improvement of life in the Niger-Delta.

But the ex-beauty queen said it was crucial for all stakeholders to look further into the angle of human development. “The education of a people is always key, for it enables them compete favourably in the light of contemporary challenges.

“I eagerly look forward to the advancement of compulsory free education schemes at the primary and secondary levels, while scholarship grants are awarded to proven indigents at the tertiary level and to those who aspire to further their learning abroad with a mandatory caveat to return home thereafter and contribute towards the advancement of the region.”

Also, the actress yearns for the standardisation of educational structures, which would entail the training of teachers to bring them to par with their contemporaries globally, adding: “A nation that educates her people secures her future, and I don’t believe the Niger Delta should aspire differently.”