Governor Lalong remains committed to Broader Post Conflict Peace Building Process in Plateau State, Says DG PPBA Mr Joseph Lengmang

By Pam Musa

The Director General, Plateau Peace Building Agency Mr Joseph Lengmang has said that Governor Simon Lalong remains committed to the broader post conflict Peace Building Process in the State.

He said the Governor has never waivered in his determination to arrest the vicious cycle of violent conflict that has remained the persistent plight of Plateau People before the advent of the Present rescue Administration.

Lengmang disclose this in Jos yesterday during a one day High level technical session to Review PPBA strategic Plan and Develop a five work plan held at the Agency office Millionaires Quarters Jos.

“The establishment of the Peace Building Agency is in line with the Vision of the Governor of Plateau State, His Excellency, Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong to build and promote a stable, prosperous and Peaceful Plateau and what we are doing today aligns with the first policy agenda of his administration which include Peace, Security and Good Governance”.

He commended leadership of Governor Lalong  and his vision of a Peaceful and stable Plateau as well as the effort of the Stakeholders, peace promoters and other relevant agencies for their support to the growth and development of the Plateau Peace Building Agency since it was created last year.

“Our idea is to develop a five-year strategic plan through q benchmarking exercise that identifies good practices, highlight key lessons learned including a calendar to specify key intervention areas, outline activities, indicators and responsibilities at different levels. We need a clear strategy that leverages our capacity to foster collaborative partnerships with other agencies of government, private sector, civil society, development partners and grass roots communities. This plan will highlight certain guidelines that promote sustainable conflict sensitive planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation as well as mainstream the role of women in conflict prevention and Peace Building.

According to him the law establishing PPBA only underscores a broad Policy framework upon which ideas and strategies of conflict prevention and Peace building can be addressed, but fails short of suggesting pathways for achieving these important tasks and the technical review session is to bridge the gap.

“As a relatively new agency of government, it is important to have a strategic operational framework that will serve as a road map for achieving the goals and objectives for which the agency was founded. Such a strategy or action plan will sets direction as well prioritizes areas of intervention. It will help to define PPBA’s view of success and Prioritize activities that will make this view a reality. It is very crucial that PPBA profile its role in relations to other government agencies with similar functions, CSOs, NGOs, and security agencies”.

Lengmang again assures that the Peace building Agency will propose and support intervention strategies that are able to contribute to the detection and response to early warning signs of conflict, resolution of old conflicts and a rapid return to sustainable Peace.

He decries the inability of the Previous administrations to engage experts with adequate knowledge capacity and extensive experience to facilitate conflict intervention processes as well as the seemingly lack of a robust synergy between government and civil society organizations in the past underscore a serious gap in coordination and support efforts.

However in her contribution Executive Director Kaduna State Peace Building commission Ms Priscilla Ankut commended the Plateau State Government for being the first state to established the Peace Agency, saying Plateau has set the pace for Kaduna and other states to emulate.

Ankut said her participation in the technical session is to get more experience from Plateau State that has since been in place.

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Governor Lalong remains committed to Broader Post Conflict Peace Building Process in Plateau State, Says DG PPBA