The Plateau State Peace Building Agency has relaunched its robust website (HERE) with Incident Reporting & conflict database for the general public.
Mr. Patrick Jan Jepang, ICT Team Lead for the Agency disclosed this on Wednesday 17th August 2022 at Hotel Ronicon hall Jos, during an engagement with ICT and Social Media enthusiasts as well as Bloggers on “the use of evidence-based information to change the narrative on farmer-herder conflict in Plateau state.
Mr. Jepang, while making a presentation on the Agency’s redesigned Website (HERE), stated that the site was in furtherance of the Agency’s mandate, which is to coordinate conflict prevention and peacebuilding interventions in Plateau State through collaborative approaches and credible partnership with non-state actors.
He said the website provides an avenue for an immediate incident report which will then be collected and verified by the Agency’s research team. The general public can now report issues, ranging from kidnapping, boundary disputes, communal conflicts, cattle rustling, farm invasion and other issues that escalate tension of crises.
The ICT lead also stated that the website was providing 5 major databases which include reports of conflicts and attacks, a comprehensive list of state and non-state actors, a breakdown of conflict issues, timelines of conflict in Plateau State and Trauma processing organizations in Plateau State.
He stated that the general public can use the hotlines provided on the website for incident reports as well as other peace workers also take advantage of the easy access to the database for their work.
In his remarks, Head of Strategic Communications, Mr. Kenneth Dakop said the agency is concerned with identifying potential issues of crisis and addressing them proactively.
He said the Agency has over the years continued in bringing stakeholders to work together to resolve conflicts and prevent new ones. “Through systematic dialogue, mediation, conflict transformation, peace education, sensitization, advocacy and community outreaches, they speak to strengthening community social cohesion and strengthening of structures that promote and enable healing, forgiveness and reconciliation.” He said
Mr. Dakop also stated that the Agency is a dedicated institutional mechanism created to fill the gap in the state architecture for Peace, with the role of Promoting the culture of peace and harmonious co-existence among diverse ethnic and religious groups in the state; 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.
“The Plateau Peace Building Agency has facilitated conflict settlements through multi-track diplomacy and negotiations, conflict resolution training, mediation services, and peace education over the years with tremendous successes recorded.” Mr Kenneth said
The Participants were encouraged to effectively use its new incident reporting system to report issues for prompt actions to address conflicts capable of escalating into violence.
