By Andrew Ajijah, Jos
The Director General of the Plateau Peace Building Agency (PPBA) Joseph Lengmang has appealed to journalists practicing in Jos, to help the agency in mitigating in the continued civil unrest in the state through objective and balance reportage.
Mr Lengmang made the appeal at the agency’s secretariat during a round table discuss with practicing journalists on the way forward for an enduring peace.
Plateau Peace Building Agency was established by the present administration of Governor Simon Lalong to tackle rising cases of insecurities.
The PPBA chief executive is worried that the farmer header clashes have graduated into different forms of criminality, ranging from armed robbery, banditry, and now kidnapping has become unabated.
Emerald News reports that the crisis in Plateau has lasted for two decades, it began on the 7th September 2001, with a mere riot on a Friday. The civil disturbance has claimed several lives, destroyed property worth billions.
During the interface, communities were urged to expose criminal minded persons among them no matter how highly placed, and no one should defend such individuals and groups.
Insecurity prone communities were also urged to be more vigilant and proactive in reporting skirmishes around them.
Participants observed that suspected mastermind of most civil unrest in the state are treated with kid gloves, therefore creating more avenue for crisis.
It was suggested to management of PPBA to also engage security agencies on a similar pally.
Some audiovisual participants told leadership of the agency to always use soften wards in describing scenes of incidents as a means of reducing tension among victims and the entire society.
Responding to questions, Director General PPBA Joseph Lengmang, appreciated the contributions of journalists in spreading message of good news, of the need for citizens to coexist peacefully irrespective of religious and ethnic affiliation.
