Media creatives in Plateau State have been urged to use their various creative capabilities and insights for more awareness on peaceful co-existence in Plateau State.
The appeal was made on Tuesday in Jos by the leadership of the Plateau Peace Building Agency, PPBA during a coordinated meeting with selected media creative stakeholders at the premises of the Agency.
Speaking at the event, the Director-General of the Agency, Joseph Lengmang, represented by the Director of Administration, Mr. Timothy Gayi, in his opening remarks disclosed the meeting is aimed at strategizing and creating avenues for media creatives to be able to understand and support the objectives of the Agency.
“Over the past six years, the Agency has benefited and achieved a lot due to the harmonious partnership with the media as such we are redirecting our energy to accommodate the creative side of the media. We want creatives to use their capabilities to participate in the peace-building activities of the Agency.”
“We are trying to create an inclusion and partner with creatives for sustainable peace, thereby presenting what we do for creatives to be able to present some of the gains and strides of the agency and propagate it to the world”. He said.
Also speaking, the Team Lead of Strategic Communication, Mr. Kenneth Dakop, stated that Plateau Peace Building Agency is a State government-owned Agency saddled with the responsibility of among other things, mediating and fostering peaceful coexistence among the people in communities.
He said, the Agency, though not a security organization, is working to ensure peaceful coexistence in communities and is a dedicated institutional mechanism, created to fill the gap in the state architecture for Peace,
He said the role of PPBA includes the promotion of the culture of peace and harmonious co-existence among diverse ethnic and religious groups in the state, Has developed 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.
Mr. Dakop also stated that the Agency has and is still facilitating conflict settlements through multi-track diplomacy and negotiations, conflict resolution training, mediation services, and peace education. He said the recent was the facilitation of the signage of the commitment to peace document, by the Irigwe and Fulani communities in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.
At the interaction, media creatives who were drawn from the stage comedy, Mcs, Radio Personalities, Electronic and New Media were tasked with creating sustainable ideas for the Agency to engage in peace sensitization both at the grassroots level and beyond.
