From Gyang Bere, Jos
The Director General, Plateau State Peace Building Agency, Mr. Joseph Lengmang has solicited the support of the media in creating more awareness on peaceful co-existence in Plateau State.
He noted that the agency has achieved relative peace through dialogue with critical stakeholders in rural communities and collaboration with security agencies in the state.
Lengmang disclosed this on Friday during an interaction with Journalists in Jos, saying although there is a relative peace in the state, but the root cause of the violence has not been adequately address.
He said that the agency is running a project tagged “peace scope project” aimed at strengthening harmonious understanding between farmers/herders in the state.
Lengmang explained that the agency has set up a local committee which has been trained on how to identify early warning signs enable the community response swiftly to emerging situation.
He noted that the peace scope project, which is being sponsored by German Corporation (GIZ) was to strengthen the capacity of the rural communities for the transformation of famers/herders in the state.
Lengmang revealed that there are some peace stakeholders who are crisis merchants and have turned some civil unrest situations into personal businesses.
“Some peace stakeholders are not truly peace makers, they will tell a different thing during meetings, and act on the contrary while away. Their actions have negative implications on the search for peace in the state.”
Lengmang reported with sad that most government owned agencies promoting peace and security are under funded, and are not among the first line charge of government.
He appreciated the administration of Governor Simon Lalong for establishing Plateau Peace Building Agency PPBA, which he said has mitigated several unrest, hence the relative peace in the state.
He lamented lack of accountability by some Non Governmental Organizations who have refused to aligned with the agency in an effort to harmonious peace practitioners under one umbrella.