As part of proactive measures toward ending the protracted violence on the Plateau, an NGO, Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), has trained 300 `peace monitors’ to detect and report early warning signs.Mr Babatunde Afolabi, HD Senior Programme Manager, at the launch of its Situation Room in Jos on Wednesday, said that such reports would assist security agencies to take prompt measures to avoid a breakdown of law and order.
He said that 160 mobile phones had been deployed into Plateau communities for the task.“We expect the `peace monitors’ to provide real time situation of a crisis before it escalates,” he said.The manager emphasised the need for collaboration and partnership with all stakeholders to achieve the desired goal, saying that such togetherness was “very critical” to permanent peace in Plateau.
“HD has realised that a key factor responsible for the resurgence of conflicts in Plateau is the non-implementation of recommendations contained in peace agreements. “We are also aware that most contending issues had been dealt with, either in some earlier-brokered peace agreements, government white papers, or the recommendations contained in the reports of special panels or commissions of inquiry.
“From our findings, the non-implementation of the recommendations appears to be responsible for the constant recurrence of the violence,” he said.
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Governor Simon Lalong, in his remarks, said that his administration has made peace and security a prime priority because it was key to the success of every other activity.
He said that government had established a Plateau Peace Building Agency to serve as a coordinating agency on all peace-related issues, adding that the agency had drawn up a structured and determined instrument for the sustenance of long term peace in Plateau.The governor thanked the NGO for its contributions toward a stable Plateau, and expressed hope that the peace monitors would play a crucial toward ending the violence.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the Netherlands and German Ambassadors to Nigeria, Messrs Robert Petri and Bernhard Schlageck, who were at the launch, emphasised the need for preventive measures instead of waiting to `cure’ crisis when it breaks. (NAN
