On Monday 30th October 2017 The Director General of Plateau Peace Building Agency, Mr Joseph Lengmang called for a follow up meeting of Social Media influncers in Plateau State. It was chaired by Prince Charles Dickson with intent to discuss pertinent State issues especially as they relate to the use of social media in promoting peace on the Plateau.
Prince Charles Dickson emphasized
the need for the People of Plateau to write their own stories and create their
own narratives instead of leaving it to outsiders. He pointed out there are
people who profit from making other people have a disoriented thought process
and incite violence.
Three key speakers talked on the issue of peace and social
media.
The first speaker, came from the angle that most of
the victims and perpetrators of attacks in the state are not in the cyberspace and that we can make as
much noise as we want, share false news and make it spread like wildfire, but
if the people who are directly involved cannot be reached, then it’s all for
nothing.
He pointed out that the security architecture was
practically nonexistent.
He went on to say that the people are aggrieved and what
they clamor for at the moment is retaliation not setting up committees to
broker peace.
Mr. Ponsah, the second speaker said he believes we’re not
asking the right questions. He advised that people, both the attacked and attackers be asked
what their grievance is, what warrants such attacks because the
media does not hear their own side of the story.
The third speaker believed that social media can help
promote peace and stall violence. He recommends that the Plateau Peace Building
agency can adopt the social media system of geotagging.
Reasonable suggestions and contributions were made by some of the most prominent social media users in the state as the meeting ended with a resolve for further engagement.