After violent conflicts severely tested its claim to serenity, Jos, the Plateau State capital, may be about to reclaim its peace, thanks to a group of senior citizens. YUSUFU AMINU IDEGU reports
There was a time when you could go to Jos and dream. Its clement weather was the clincher, cool and inviting all year round. The various ethnic groups that dot the plateau lived harmoniously with one another. No one was surprised when Plateau State claimed it was home of peace and tourism. Then, violence crept in, and Jos, the beautiful state capital, came under massive assault.
The bloodshed has abated, thanks in part to peace-building processes and Governor Simon Lalong’s overtures. Now some elder statesmen have staked their claim and interest in the peace of Jos. They initiated an organisation called ‘Make Jos Great Again Forum’. The forum, according to the organisers, is to help Jos reclaim its status as “Home of Peace and Tourism”.
Jos used to be home to all Nigerians and even foreigners alike. But since 2001 when a major conflict broke out, visitors changed their patronage of Jos as a second home. Apart from that, settlement within the city was restructured along religious lines. Muslims relocated to a particular location while the Christians also moved to a preferred area within the city. There were also areas certain categories of residents dared not go.
Even with the conflict over since 2011, the city still remains polarized. That was why the seniors stepped in. Chairman of the ‘Make Jos Great Again’ forum, Chief Samu’ ila Danko Makama who is a former Chairman, National Population Commission (NPC) in a chat with The Nation in Jos gave an insight into the circumstances that produced the forum.
He said, “Jos, the Plateau State capital, has witnessed so many crises in the past, between 2001 till recently. We witnessed prolonged insecurity that affected the state social and economic life. The state used to be called home of peace and tourism. But with the prolonged conflicts, the state was facing identity problem to the level that people began to doubt if Plateau is really home of peace and tourism. Jos the state capital was worse hit with the conflict. The citizens were divided, settlement was restructured, there were no go areas depending on your religion, your tribe and your political affiliation. And you know, wherever there is conflict there will be no development, no one can go out for business when you know your life is not secured, farmers cannot go to farm, the cattle breeders cannot move out to feed their cattle, in short the entire economy of such environment will collapse because people were just living in fear of the unknown.
“So, most of us who were born and brought up in Jos began to put ideas together on how to bring back the lost glory of Jos. When I say some of us, I mean people like retired Col, Lawan Gwadabe, a former military governor of Niger State, Senator Jacob Tilley-Gyado, Aliyu Garba, Engineer Matthew Dogo, Nde Joshua Puka, Christabel Bentu, Lilian Kacholom Rwang, Odessa Chuwang, Prefessor Sylvester, Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande, Alhaji Saleh Hassan, Ambassador Musa Ilo, just to mention a few. These are some of the founding members of this forum.
“We felt that Jos used to be a centre of attraction to people all over the country due largely to the cool weather and its peaceful nature, coupled with the fact that the people are so hospitable. So we began to think on how to revive the lost image of the state. We used to relate socially even though we came from different ethnic origins, but you realise that such mutual love and social life became difficult as a result of the crisis. We began to hear of ‘no go areas’ in Jos, some of us who enjoyed peaceful coexistence in those days could not believe there could be no go areas in Jos, but it is real. You will hear that the Christians no longer relate well with fellow Muslims, the Christian had to relocate to a particular section of the city and the Muslims did same, so one part of the city is predominantly Muslim settlement and the other part is predominantly Christian settlement. Jos city was compartmentalised as a result of the conflicts. We thought this is not good enough for peaceful coexistence, and should we just fold our arms and allow things go that way.
“However, government, security agencies, traditional institutions, civil society organisations, religious organisations as well as community leaders have put up so much effort to restore peace in the state. But as leaders and statesmen, we decided to make our own contribution in the ongoing peace building, so as to sustain the prevailing peace across the state. We have formed a social media hash tag known as #makejosgreatagain#, we have established a WhatsApp platform, we have an administrator of this social media page which became a platform for all of us to interact on this project”
The elder statesmen said though the present administration of Governor Simon Lalong has done so much to restore peace in the state and Jos in particular, there is still a lot to be done to sustain the prevailing peaceful atmosphere.
Chief Makama said, “There is still a lot to do in peace building, any society that is just coming out of conflict might likely get back to crisis again if certain things are not done properly. We agree peace has been restored, but there could be bottled anger, people are still nursing pains as a result of lost ones, a lot of orphans are on the streets, you don’t know what is on their mind. The restoration of peace alone does not mean all is well, the peace building has to be holistic and this involves all stakeholders. In our own case, we are looking at issues that can bring people together to relate and mingle together without considering ethnic or religious difference, for instance, there are recreational and tourists centres in the state which serve as meeting points to youths and children during festivals, like Jos Museum, Gardens, Resorts, etc. We will try and renovate these centres and make them more attractive to youths.
“We will begin by embarking on public enlightenment campaigns through the mass media, we have to preach peace, love, coexistence. We need to re-orientate our youths and discourage them from violence. We are going to do capacity building and empower the youths and other categories of citizens. We have plans to set up a micro-finance bank through which we can make credit facilities available for small-scale businesses. By doing so, we would have empowered the people economically and that will boost the entire economy of the state. We will focus on widows, orphans, physically disadvantaged, displaced persons. We shall also embark on renovation of schools for our children to go to school especially the indigent ones in Jos North and Jos South. Then we shall set up a foundation to be known as JOSIAN Foundation. The name is derived from the word Jos, Josians then means, citizens of Jos. With the foundation we shall provide scholarship to indigent children to go to school, some to acquire skills. We shall also try to provide social amenities where one is lacking especially medical services, water.
“There are so many ways we can contribute our quota to the ongoing peace building, we have short term, medium and long term peace projects. Our overall goal is, never again will Plateau go back to violence again, never will there be bloodshed in Jos, henceforth, peaceful coexistence and mutual love is guaranteed. We must build on the lessons learnt from the conflicts, we have to join hands with other interested parties to make sure the prevailing peace is sustained.”
The forum, from the structures laid down so far, is going to operate like a non-governmental organisation which is going to operate independent of government.
Makama said, “We have set up various committees for the purpose of actualising our objectives, there are four committees, one is the finance and general purpose committee headed by Senator Jack Tilley Gyado, the planning and strategy committee headed by Col Lawan Gwadabe (Rtd), the peace committee is headed by Lilian Kacholom, and then the public affairs committee which is by Hon Dasuki Nakande. I, as chairman have inaugurated these committees and they have commenced work. So the finance committee has submitted a proposal on how to raise funds. The original funds is coming from the founding members through voluntary contributions, it is our own way of giving back to the society. The planning committee is expected to give us the list of projects that requires immediate attention.”
In spite of the set objectives of this forum, some residents in the state are suspicious of the group. There are fears that since they are not a political group, they are likely to be hijacked by government and be used for selfish political gains especially as the country approaches 2019 general elections.
To allay this fear, Chief Makama said, “This group is neither political nor religious nor ethnic. Our membership cuts across all political divides. For instance, a former state chairman of PDP Raymond Dabo is a member, I am from APC, and all our members belong to various political parties, so this has already made it difficult to any government to hijack.”
The chairman appealed to citizens of the state to key into the peace ideology of the forum so as to collectively restore the past glory of the state. The forum is also open to all citizens to join as members or contribute willingly to help actualise our projects.
