The Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Barrister Solomon Dalung, has called on the Plateau State Government to return every local government civil servant to their respective local governments of origin.
Dalung made the call during the 2018 Nzem Berom Cultural festival in Jos, the State Capital.
Dalung who was chairman of the occasion said, “We must empower our traditional institutions to be able to play the role of providing effective security right from the village level up to the State.
“I want to appeal to the Governor, that there is the need to revisit the architecture of peace in Plateau, and the only way to go about this is to engage our traditional institutions.”
He commended the State Government for the modest efforts its has so far done in trying to ensure that peace return to the State.
“And I sincerely want to appeal to all Plateau people that we should forget all our grievances and differences and look towards a peaceful State.
“Let us respect, love and leave with each other in peace.
“Another way to promote peace and security, is for the government to return every local government civil servant to his or her local government.
“For instance, if you post a Berom man to Langtang South, he will not go with his wife; and if goes there all he needs is to get one room, and by Thursday he would have left that place to return to Jos.
“Infact to worsen the situation, Taroh people leaving in Langtang South have abandoned that place and are coming to buy houses in Jos, that is why there is so much fighting about land in Jos.
“Everybody should be returned to his local government, if he or she wants to cause trouble, he or she should do it there.
“I want to appeal to the traditional rulers; yours is a calling and not an appointment, you cannot become a traditional ruler by accident, no; you must belong to the ruling family, and you must be chosen by the electoral collage of the ruling family.
“Therefore your responsibility is equivalent to that of the priest and a clergy.
“I want to appeal that you revisit our mechanism of engagement and ensure that peace and stability returns to Plateau.”
He further appealed to the State Government to call for an enlarge meeting of stakeholders in the state, so that decisions would be taken on how to resettle those whose homes where destroyed and are displaced during unrest in their communities.
In his remarks, Governor Simon Lalong, represented by his Deputy, Prof. Sonni Tyoden said, “I will not fail to continue in my commendation of the entire Berom Nation; for her commitment to the peace building process on the Plateau.
“Your sincere contribution to the development of a peace architecture for Plateau, through the Berom-Fulani peace committee that we put in place on our assumption of office, has yielded good fruits with the near total cessation of the return of relative peace to most of the Berom villages which were hitherto under attack.
In his address, the Gbong Gwom Jos and Chairman Plateau State Council of Chiefs Da Jacob Gyang Buba, challenged the Federal Government to provide adequate security for peasant farmers in the Middle Belt States to avert looming food scarcity in the country.
Buba said farmers in the region are threatened on daily basis by the unabated attacks and killings by Fulani herdsmen which has made farming activities difficult and virtually impossible in the agricultural region.
According to the the Paramount ruler, “Despite our prayers today for a bountiful harvest, it is very unfortunate that farmers in the country, particularly in the Middle Belt States are threatened by different forms of insecurity.”
