After the recent upheaval that took place in Jos Last week, The Plateau State Peace Building Agency met with social media influencers in the state Today, Tuesday 19th September, to discuss The Role Of Social Media Influencers In Fostering Peace in the state.
The meeting was well attended by social media influencers, journalists and broadcasters in the state. The Plateau State Peace building agency is a non partisan agency setup by law to respond to the issues of peace and security in the state. It’s a new agency that is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring peace in the state, managing conflict and as much as possible nipping potential mayhem in the bud.
The meeting began with the Director General of the agency, Mr Joseph Lengmang introducing the agency and stating the agenda of the meeting. In his words, “Only a fool will politicize the issue of peace and security in the state so the question is, how do we mitigate the risk that the social media poses to the peace and stability of the state knowing fully well that social media is a double edged sword?”
The Director general went on to emphasise that there was no need to talk about ethnic or religious differences only practical ways to ensure and maintain peace particularly with the use of social media.
One after the other, bloggers, broadcasters, journalists and social media experts outlined different issues and proferred solutions some of which stood out. One of such outstanding solution which came from a blogger was that Plateau Media should own her own story and tell it instead of allowing outsiders put out false stories.
The meeting ended with a closing remark where the DG stated that, “The Plateau State Peace Building Agency is always open to anyone who has a valid suggestion on how to build and maintain peace. Please feel free to walk in here anytime with your suggestion.
He rounded off the meeting by extending an invitation to everyone present to the town hall meeting scheduled for the 21st of September to mark the United Nations World peace day