In its effort to achieve the cardinal mandate for its creation which is to be proactive in preventing violence, the Plateau Peace Building Agency (PPBA) in collaboration with GIZ today 17^th August, 2022 engaged ICT and Social Media Enthusiasts as well as Bloggers on “the Use of Evidence-based Information to Change the Narrative on the Farmer/Herder Conflict in Plateau State”

The meeting which held at Hotel Ronicon Jos, Plateau State brought together Social Media Influencers, ICT Personnel and Online Media Experts to sensitize them on how effective to use its new incident reporting system to report issues for prompt actions to address conflicts capable of escalating into violence.

PPBA Head of Strategic Communications, Mr. Kenneth Dakop in his remarks said the agency is working round the clock to ensure it achieve its mandate hence the need for continuous engagements with stakeholders in its peace building efforts. He disclosed that the consultative meeting was aimed at creating awareness about the existence of the incident reporting platform of the agency and how effective the public can report incidents in any part of the State using its newly developed platform. He said Social Media Influencers and Blogger are critical stakeholders to the Agency.

According to him, the Agency is primarily concerned with identifying potential issues of crisis and addressing them proactively. He hinted that the Agency will continue to work assiduously with stakeholders irrespective of their religious, ethnic and tribal inclinations to ensure that a stable, united, inclusive and secured Plateau that is at peace with itself and the rest of the world is attained. He said the agency is deliberate in promoting the culture of peace and harmonious coexistence among the diverse ethno-religious groups that make up Plateau State.

“The approach in the past is the deployment of security personnel whenever there is violent conflict while the root causes were ignored but the present government realized it was expedient to tackle the remote causes through dialogue, mediation, advocacy and other result-oriented ways”

“The establishment of the Plateau Peace Building Agency by the Gov. Lalong which is backed by law is an indication of the government commitment to achieving sustainable peace” he posited.

He said the target is to resolve old conflicts, prevent new ones as well as promote a peaceful and stable society through a wide range of activities such as dialogue, advocacy, collaborative partnership, research and post-conflict rehabilitation. He harped on restorative justice which can be achieved through genuine reconciliation, forgiveness and healing.

Mr. Patrick Jepang the ICT Team Lead took time to make presentation on the Website of the Agency which he said is robust and contain information that are useful for public consumption.

The Participants lauded the Agency for engaging and involving the people in its peace building efforts and making them take ownership of the peace building process for sustainable peace to be actualized. They also applauded the Agency for the mediatory role being played by it which they said is yielding positive results and call for concerted efforts in addressing the humanitarian challenges being faced by the people through the reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement of those gravely affected by violent conflicts which led to colossal damages to their property and other means of livelihood to build confidence in them.

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Plateau Peace Building Agency Introduces Incident Reporting System to Tackle Early Warning Signals