Farmer/Herder conflict: Taraba Govt. To Create Peace Commission, Lauds SFCG
OKERAFOR ATHANATIUS, JALINGO.
The Taraba state government has reaffirmed its commitment towards curbing incessant killings and attacks on individuals arising from farmer/herder conflicts and other related cases across the 16 local government areas of the state.
Dr Jeji William Mni, Chief of Staff to Governor Agbu Kefas
Government has therefore, concluded plans to create an entity known as Peace Commission in the State.
Chief of Staff (CoS) to Governor Agbu Kefas, Dr. Jeji William stated this while fielding questions from Journalists shortly after a two day Media Retreat organized by Search for Common Grounds (SFCG) for Adamawa and Taraba Journalists at Bolton White Hotel, Abuja.
Dr Williams said the bill establishing the commission has already passed through second reading at the floor of the State House of Assembly, Jalingo.
He assured that early part of 2025, when the lawmakers must have done with the bill, and the commission established, all issues related to conflicts, crisis and war would be referred to the commission. “And you will be glad and you’ll get a lot of responses”.
Jeji William also disclosed that government has set up a security network known as, ‘Taraba Marshall’ which he added would be working with the Police, the Army, Civil Defence, Customs and Hunters.
The CoS further disclosed that despite the five point agenda of the present administration which he described as health, agriculture, banditry, women empowerment, and one other, government has also pledged to deal with other issues bothering the affairs of the State.
“You know that the governor of Taraba State has been up and doing, there are a lot of frameworks that he has been addressing, there are a lot of policies he has put on ground”, he said.
He however, commended the organizers of the Retreat, ‘SFCG’ for doing wonderfully well in the areas of addressing gaps which he spelt out, are so little but have met a lot of drives in the lives of the participants (journalists).
According to him, SFCG, iom, Mercy Corps, comitas and the European union have been existing in the State for quite some time, working on a project tagged, project I and II.
While noting that an action plan has been produced in the course of SFCG’s activities which the State government is expected to work on, Dr William revealed that the Ministries of Agriculture and Water Resources are the two Ministries that are always vulnerable as long as conflict is concerned.
“The Federal Government has put up the creation of Ministry of Livestock Development.
“The state ministries have been captured and they have been attending meetings, and I think they have encompassed everything and they are going to take it up and work with those results”.
While advising the participants to always make use of lessons taught during the Retreat and other workshops in their reports, CoS urged journalists not to rely on press statements rather, “always carry out researches, investigations, and indebt analysis on those press statements to buttress the facts.
