From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
The Benue State Commission for Peace and Reconciliation (BCPR) has met with stakeholders in the state to evolve a workable strategic plan that will help end the various crises bedeviling the state.
Speaking at a two-day strategic consultative workshop on Peace, Reconciliation and Climate Change, organized by the Commission, in collaboration with International Alert, an NGO, the Director General, BCPR, Mrs Josephine Habba, said the commission has the mandate to reconcile all warring parties and return peace to the state.
She said “as the name implies; reconciliation, peace, the mandate is to see those broken bridges mended, to see those who have been fighting sit on the table together and also to have children play together again.
She recalled that in the past the peaceful coexistence between Benue people and other tribes saying “when I was growing up, we used to have Fulanis who sell milk to us and they become our friends. We buy oil, we buy milk and suddenly that bridge has been broken.
“So the commission has the mandate to see that those bridges are built. As Benue people, we also have internal crisis. We want to also see how we can mop up those crisis and intervene to ensure that farmers go back to farm, children go back to school and IDPs return to their ancestral homes.
“Basically, this cannot happen without policies and so we have the mandate to advise government on policies that will help those changes happen.
She said the commission needs a road map and direction and cannot sit alone to develop it, hence the consultative learning, policy planning and strategy development workshop to enable stakeholders evolve a workable plan for the commission.
Habba said to enable them succeed, the commission is going to work with victims as well as various organisations and groups; Miyetti Allah, Security, Market women among others and especially the media to ensure that even in their reporting, the language or content, would have no element of trigger of crisis.
She further noted that women must be an integral part of the peace process as they have the ability to ensure that peace works.
The DG who urged the participants to put in their best at the workshop said “Governor Hyacinth Alia is committed to this process because topmost on his agenda is peace and to ensure that security is restored in Benue and you have been called to this meeting because we know that you have the capacity to ensure and invest that Benue has peace.”
The Country Director of International Alert, Paul Nyulaku, said his organization has been in the state intervening in Makurdi and Agatu Local Government Areas in the area of peace and Climate change.
He said, “We will be putting the issue of climate change at the front burner of these conversations because we see it as a key driver to the conflicts that we face in Benue and around the North Central.
“The second outcome is around peace building and social cohesion in communities affected by conflicts and dealing with impacts of climate change in such a way that brings about prosperity to the people,” he added.
The Chairman of the Peace Commission, Bishop Nathan Nyom, said the commission is working to ensure peace nor just for Benue state but the whole of the Benue valley. He called on all participants to give their best saying “We all have a stake in ensuring that there is peace because where there is no peace, there is no development.”
Also speaking, the Chief Imam of central Mosque in Benue, Shuaibu Garba expressed happiness that over the years, there has not been any religious crisis in Benue assuring that “we can never have it” just as the Tor Kwande, paramount ruler of Kwande/Ushongo LGs, Chief Ambrose Iortyer, said he was excited with the establishment of the Commission and pledged the continuous support of the traditional institutions to bring about peace in the state.
Speaking for Benue women, Dr Dorcas Ukpe, who stated that the cry of mothers should be everybody’s cry said there is need for urgency in addressing the numerous crises in the Benue valley, for food security and peace to enable the children to thrive and grow up into healthy adults.