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From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
The Benue State Government has called on all partners intervening in conflict situations in the state to continue to support her in curtailing conflicts and return lasting peace in the state.
The Secretary to the Benue state Government, (SSG), Joseph Alakali, made this call on Monday while speaking at the coordination meeting organized by the Benue State Commission for peace and Reconciliation, (BCPR) with support from Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (“hd), in Makurdi, the State capital.
The meeting was held to facilitate dialogue, information and knowledge sharing and to see areas of collaboration between BCPR and development partners to ensure lasting peace in the state.
The SSG who noted that no one is happy with the present atmosphere in Benue state pledged the government’s commitment to working with partners to build a peaceful and prosperous Benue.
Earlier, the Chairman of the board of BPRC, Rev Nathan Inyom, who went memory lane on the efforts to bring about a peace Commission to Benue commended Governor Hyacinth Alia and his predecessor, Chief Samuel Ortom, for making it a reality and considering them worthy to work for the Commission.
He urged Governor Alia to provide the Commission an enabling environment to implant the Benue Peace law and bring it to a standard that would be a model to be adopted throughout Nigeria and beyond.
The board chairman also commended the courage of the Commission’s Director General, (DG), Josephine Habba and efforts of the staff urging all hands on deck to ensure a smooth implementation of the project.
Speaking, the Lead Facilitator
Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), Dr Ahmed Yassin, explained that the organization has intervened and resolved a number of conflicts in the state especially between Konshisha and Oju and between clans in Agatu LGAs of the state leading to the signing of a peace accord as well as the constitution of a peace and reconciliation committee.
Yassin who acknowledged that a lot more can be done between the state government and the partners, appealed to Benue state government to support the Peace Commission with some form of legislation among others for the sustainability of the project.
“All of us, not only hands, everything should be on deck to ensure success. For us at HD, we will always avail ourselves to support the commission because it is our baby and we can’t allow it to suffer, ” he promised.
Meanwhile, the Force Commander (FC), Operation Whirl Stroke, (OPWS), Major Gen. Sunday Igbinomwanhia, noted that the troops of OPWS have quelled crises in several areas in the state using approaches that brought about peace.
While pledging to continue to support the state and the Commission, Igbinomwanhia said herders that carry arms are no longer herders, “we have made it clear to them to know this. If you carry sophisticated weapons alongside herding, you are disguising to commit crime.
The Commander said “it is not in the place of individuals to carry arms around in the pretext that they are protecting their businesses. The instrument of security belongs to the government, and the government is using it wisely. If everyone is allowed to carry arms, there would be anarchy in the land.”
He urged the Commission to enlighten the public about the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law saying emphasis should be laid on ranching to enable all herders to follow the rules.
The DG of BPRC, Josephine Habba, expressed appreciation to all partners for their efforts in ensuring peace returned to the state. She said the Commission has had interface with both herders and farmers where they agreed to cooperate and support one another.
She called on the partners responding to peace in the state to continue to support and collaborate with the Commission to bring peace back and also urged the media to do conflict sensitive reports so as to de-escalate conflicts in the state.
