PLATEAU STATE GOVERNOR INSTITUTES COMMITTEE TO DIFUSE BEROM/FULANI SITUATION.

This is really a good news and we here are earnestly
hoping this committee will work fast and proffer viable
solutions. we are tired of the continued fracas.
 
Plateau State Government has set up a 14-man
committee, seven each from the warring Berom and
Fulani communities, to reconcile their differences
toward lasting peace.
Speaking with newsmen in Jos on Sunday, Plateau
state governor, Simon Lalong, said the committee was
at the request of the warring groups after meeting with
them separately and collectively, adding that the peace
committee is already working and they have gone very
far.
He said, “We decided to select seven representatives
from each of the groups to enable them resolve their
differences. We met the two groups separately, listened
to them, before we met them together where we gauged
their feelings toward each other.
“From what they said, they all appeared to have
resolved that government should allow them to work
out a peace process from among themselves without
any external interference.They have all poured out
their minds and you will be surprised at how open they
have been to each other.
“Honestly,” he continued, “They all want to live in
peace. They are all tired of the violence and want to
live peacefully because they have all seen and felt the
consequences of the lingering violence.
“The committee is chaired by a government
representative. The secretary is also a government
representative. The government’s involvement in the
talks had been supervisory. We did that to free the
atmosphere for the talks to proceed without
distractions over who should chair or lead.
“We also believe that such stance had smoothened the
flow of the talks because they all feel equally treated
and are confident that no one is being treated as a
minority in the talks,” the governor noted.
Lalong expressed government’s readiness to parley
with any group or community towards a peaceful
Plateau, noting that such peace was crucial to the
state’s development and growth.
“We want a better state. We want to grow as a people
and we want development projects. We also want our
Irish potatoes and poultry farms to flourish and buyers
to come in from inside and outside the country. We
can’t get such dreams to reality if there is no peace and
if the impression is created that Plateau is not safe.
“There are farmers and herdsmen that need freedom to
enter the bushes to farm and graze without fears of
being attacked or ambushed. The restrictions to cattle
movement and distractions from farms have brought
untold hardships to them and they appear anxious to
put that experience behind and embrace each other,”
Lalong explained, urging the warring communities to
embrace the peace process, pointing out that the
consequences of the instability had been very
disastrous to all groups.
It will be recalled that the two groups have been locked
in a lingering violence that had cost several lives, while
farms and livestock had been destroyed and the
government’s efforts towards settling them had been
abortive as fresh violence often erupts sometimes
immediately after one peace agreement or the other.
Lalong advised communities to enlighten their youths
on the ongoing peace process to avoid pockets of
clashes that could create fear, doubts and suspicion
amongst those involved in the talks.