The Plateau Peace Building Agency Advises residents Of Plateau State To Continue on The Path Of Peace This Electioneering Period.
This call was made by the Director General of the Agency, Mr Joseph Lengmang, ably represented by the Director of Administration, Mr Gayi Timothy during the monthly parley of the Agency with the Press.
During the parley, the Director general gave a progress report on the PEACECORE project and general brief of the Agency’s activities in the State.
From inception, the Peace Building Agency was established as a dedicated institutional mechanism to fill the gap in the state architecture for Peace.
The role of PPBA includes the following:
a. Promote the culture of peace and harmonious co-existence among diverse ethnic and religious groups in the state;
b. Develop a functional arrangement for coordination and cooperation between government and CSOs, NGOs, CBOs in the field of conflict prevention, peace and security through policy dialogue, research, and the development and implementation of peace and conflict prevention programs.
c. Facilitate conflict settlements through multi-track diplomacy and negotiations, conflict resolution training, mediation services, and peace education.
d. Develop collaborative partnerships with international organizations and donor agencies working on and around issues of conflict prevention and peace building.
The PEACECORE project is one of the Agency’s initiatives with the support from GIZ to deal with conflict between communities.
The plan of the Agency is to continue to empower as many farmer and Herder communities as possible with the requisite skill and capacity required to enable them resolve all conflict issues through dialogue, mediation and negotiated settlements as an alternative to violence.
Through the PEACECORE initiative, communities have been able to come up with a pocket guide, which is a document that both herders and farmers use to guide them in their interaction especially in resolving conflicts. That issues of contention can be resolved without violence in their pursuit of peace and harmony.
This initiative has Bokkos, Riyom and Shendam
LGAs as pilot areas of implementation.
And since implementation began, the frequency of violent conflicts has dropped significantly in these areas.
In this period of election the agency is calling on all well meaning citizens and residents of Plateau state to eschew the nonviolent approach in solving any differences that may come between them. That it only through peace that the will all enjoy the dividends of Democracy.