According to a statement by his family, Prof Briggs passed away in the early hours of Easter Monday, 2023, aged 79 years.
Until his death, the late Briggs was the 5th Vice Chancellor of University of Port-Harcourt, Pro-Chancellor of Federal University, Abakaliki, Bayelsa Medical University, Yenagoa and Chairman, Committee of Pro Chancellors of Nigerian Universities.
Eulogizing the late don, the alternate chairman of the Committee of Pro-chancellors who also doubles as the pro-chancellor, Modibbo Adama University Yola, Bashir Dalhatu SAN, described Briggs as an “outstanding intellectual, a Scholar-practitioner, public servant, statesman and a highly-valued citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
Dalhatu noted that the late Briggs was a complete gentleman, a family man and a man of deep thought and vision.
“His footprints in medicine, in general, and in public and private lives are timeless. His service to our country, Africa, and the rest of the world will continue to remind us of this great man”
Dalhatu thanked God for the deceased fulfilled life, and we pray that his soul be granted and everlasting life and his family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
In a related development, the Chairman, Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Prof. Samuel Edoumiekumo, eulogised Briggs as a “strong pillar of the Nigerian University system contributing over 50 years of unbroken service”.
Edoumiekumo noted that long after his retirement from active academics, he was still serving the system as pro-Chancellor to two universities.
He noted that Nigeria has lost a strong pillar in the academic community.
