International Non Governmental Organizations (INGOs), Local Non Governmental Organizations and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working in the area of peace building in Plateau State have converged to discuss ways of better synergy and partnership for more effective impact in the State.
At a three-day multi-stakeholders engagement on conflict resolution in Plateau State organized by the Plateau State Peace Building Agency (PPBA) in partnership with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Mercy Corps which held at Crest Hotels and Gardens Jos, the Plateau State Capital with the theme “Coordinated Robust Partnership and Collaboration Towards Addressing the Resurgence of Violence in Mangu, Barikin Ladi and Bokkos LGAs of Plateau State”, the organizations agreed to come together, partner and work together to achieve more effective results.

The Director of Administration/Acting Director General of the Plateau Peace Building Agency (PPBA), Mr. Gayi Timothy said the engagement is imperative to discuss ways of better synergy and coordination between INGOs, NGOs and the Plateau State Peace Building Agency. He said the agency was able to engage security agencies, community leaders and other organizations working on peace during the 3-day programme to establish the causes of the crisis that has bedeviled the State for over two decades, the new dynamics of the conflict and to see how the early warnings will be responded to adequately to forestall attacks and killings in any Community in the State. He said the response component has always been challenging as there has always been adequate early warnings in the State.
He said he look forward to better inter-agency synergy and better response and timely security interventions to early warnings.

The Country Director of Equal Access International in Nigeria, Maji Peter said the meeting is to create a platform where Civil Society Organizations donor agencies and International Organizations working on the Plateau come together and synergize in order to expand the horizon and consolidate their structures to strengthen the peace architecture in the State. He said the issue of security, strengthening the idea of early warning and early response are done collectively for better outcome.

Chrisanthus Lapang of Mercy Corps Nigeria in his remarks said the meeting is to have better understanding of the context of the violence in some Local Government Areas of Plateau State in order to develop necessary interventions that are tailored addressing the issues and making the needed impact. He said it is important to collaborate, engage with one another to have a review of their strategies and approaches to avoid duplication of functions and have good spread that will give more effective results.

In their separate remarks, Rev. James Wuye and Imam Dr. Muhammad Ashafa Co-Executive Directors of Interfaith Mediation Center (IMC) appreciated the engagement as it will assist all the clusters work together without overlap to solve the numerous insecurity problems pragmatically. They said there is no need for the duplication of work instead there should be unity of purpose and cooperation among all the non-governmental organizations working to achieve peace in Plateau State.

The Meeting brought together organizations such as Equal Access International, Mercy Corps, TEARfund, Search for Common Ground, WANEP, Plateau Peace Practitioners Network(PPPN), Community Initiatives to Promote Peace (CIPP), Plateau Peace Media Network (PPMN) and others to discuss better ways to work towards peace building in Plateau State.

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NGOs Converge to Discuss Ways of Synergy & Collaboration for Better Results in Plateau State