By Ezekiel Dontinna
The Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace (COFP), has organised a two-day training workshop for over twenty-eight (28) stakeholders from Bokkos Local Government Area of Plateau State on peace building.
This was declared opened yesterday, in collaboration with Catholic Research Services (CRS), Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), Ambassador Philemon Yatu, and Bokkos Local Government at the JDPC hall in Jos, the Plateau State capital.
Declaring the workshop opened, the Convener who is the COFP Lead Fellow, Ambassador Philemon Yatu, disclosed that the essence of the workshop was to bring stakeholders together to see how they could sustain the current peace being enjoyed as communities in Bokkos LGA.
“So we are using Bokkos local government which has had recent attacks in the past one year to be able to see how our stakeholders will come together, discuss and find a way forward as far as lasting peace is concerned in the state.
“Of course, there is high need to have sustainability beyond the scope of peace. You can see among the group of participants here, we have local government staff as participants here.
“We also have community leaders, religious leaders, youths and Civil Society Organisations here. All this is to ensure we sustain the peace that we are currently experiencing in Bokkos local government”, he highlighted.
Speaking on the topic: “Understanding interfaith dynamics in Plateau State; The Role of Community Leaders and Other Stakeholders In Preventing Breakdown of Peace”, Dr Sumaiya Hamza, said the use of the word tolerance in dealing interfaith matters was a understatement because there was need for Nigerians to respect and not just tolerate whatever faith one professed.
According to her, respecting the beliefs of one another was key to peaceful coexistence within communities and this should start from family background to build a peaceful society because charity begins at home.
“I expect that participates will carry the message back home and actualize these decisions that we have taken because nobody can change our society for the better except us.
“Development rests in our hands and I have said, we are bridges for people that have not come here to march and get what is meant for them for the sake of peaceful co-existence among us and within our communities so that, development can prosper the way it should be”, Hamza emphasised.
On his part, Dr Timothy Daret, who spoke on the topic: “Role of stakeholders in preventing crisis and sustaining peace”, noted that bringing these stakeholders together was to allow them share their thoughts because people look up to them
“They came from various backgrounds and we have youth leaders, community leaders, union leaders, religious leaders and so, this coming together will help them since they have shared rooms.
“So, what the convener did was to have people of different faiths sleep together in the same room to see that, at the end of the workshop, they will be able to see what is the lesson from the person who slept in the same room.
“Did the person kill you? Or has he or she done anything bad to you? What commonalities do you have? What differences? And why can’t you connect? Those are the lessons.
“So having the leaders to see that, even from the beginning to the lessons that they are received on how they can play a vital role in ensuring peaceful coexistence within their community, it would exposed them to making positive impact”, he reiterated.
Dr. Daret, however, expressed optimism that, the participants would start these little efforts of peace building while at home and it would create awareness and bring lasting peace in their community.
The theme of the workshop was: Leaders Conflict: Navigating Interfaith Challenges And Harnessing Opportunities For Peaceful Coexistence In Bokkos LGA Peace Building” and there were comments, questions and answers sessions respectively.
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