Lief Achievement Award
At 72, Ann-Kio Briggs is variously described as a mother of dragons, a woman with a llions heart as well as a defender of the rights of Ijaw people and the entire Niger Delta region. That is an apt description of this English-born Nigerian environmentalist and civil society advocate, who figuratively walk where angels fear to tread.
As the founder and president of Agape Birth Rights Organisation; spokesperson, Ijaw Republican Assembly; and president of the Coalition of Niger Delta Women Leaders, Briggs speaks with a loud voice on issues concerning the Niger Delta region and the less privileged.
At the slightest opportunity, she projects the interest of the oil-rich Niger Delta, a region which has suffered marginalisation, neglect and unacceptable level of environmental degradation for too long.
Very often, she puts her life at risk by going the extra mile to ensure that the voice of the people is heard.
Her activism is not limited to campaigning against environmental degradation of the Niger Delta region through oil exploration, as she has also helped some developing areas to document cleaning of oil spillage as well as fight against injustice. Her voice was heard loud and clear, in the build up to the 2023 presidential election as it concerns equity across the regions.
Obviously, her concerns that the waters, mangroves, creek and other sources of livelihood in the Niger Delta have been destroyed by the oil companies, in collaboration with the federal government, align with the frustrations of the majority of the people. This is why she is a heroine respected for the courage and selflessness.
Ann-Kio Briggs is a winner of The Sun Lifetime Achievement.