- Create new Local Governments, districts
- Tackle discrimination, unemployment
By Yusuf Ozi-Usman
First civilian Governor of Plateau state, Chief Solomon Lar, yesterday, led other members of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the protracted sectarian crises in Jos and other parts of the state, to submit the committee’s final report, making far-reaching recommendations on how to achieve lasting peace among the various ethnic nationalities in the areas.
The recommendations of the committee, Peoples Daily learnt, include the creation of new local government areas out of the present Jos North Local Government Area, if found necessary.
The Lar-led Committee, we further learnt, advised the Federal Government to create an atmosphere that would lead to the abolition of all forms of ethnic and religious discrimination in Jos, as well as other parts of Plateau state.
It specifically urged the Federal Government to encourage the Plateau state Government to create additional districts from the only one that currently exists in Jos North, and if need be, chiefdoms.
The committee, according to informed sources, noted with concern that, though Jos North is inhabited by different ethnic groups like the Anaguta, Afizere, Hausa/Fulani and Berom, who are also in larger number, nearly thrice those of, for instance, Langtang North Local Government Area, whose predominant population is the Taroh, there are eight districts in the latter while the former has only one.
This, the committee said, gave room for the yawning leadership gap that exists in Jos North LGA.
The presidential team under Lar also observed with concern that certain ethnic groups in Jos, in particular, and Plateau at large, are excluded from governance, especially strategic leadership positions.
It advised that the Federal Government should encourage agencies of government at both the state and LGs in Plateau state to demolish all tendencies towards “exclusivity in governance,” to give sense of belonging to all and sundry.
It further recommended that the Federal Government should take adequate steps to tackle unemployment in all parts of the state.
Most of the recommendations in respect of Jos North, according to our sources, are also to be applicable to Bukuru town in Jos South Local Government Area of the state, which was hitherto regarded as part of Jos city.
The committee also advised that for effective implementation of these and other recommendations made in its report, the Federal Government should consider setting up an Implementation Monitoring Committee, to monitor the processes at both the state and local government levels.
Lar had, while submitting the report to President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday, revealed that the committee did a holistic analysis of the situation by unearthing both the remote and immediate causes of the crises.
He added that the crisis resulted from a mixture of problems, ranging from economic, political, religious and social factors.
He thanked the president for extending the duration of the committee’s work, from its earlier two weeks to a month, which he said, enabled it to do a thorough job.
President Jonathan had, after receiving the report, assured that the spate of crises that engulfed Jos, and other parts of Plateau state, for months, resulting in the death of hundreds of people, will be the last in the country.
The President made it clear that, unlike what happened in the past as regards the reports of previous government committees, his administration will fully implement the report of the Lar committee, adding that whatever needed to be done to avoid a repeat of the ugly situation will be done.
The president, who received the voluminous report in the presence of top security chiefs of the country, added that the report will be implemented not only to resolve the Plateau crises, but to address similar crises as they occur in other parts of the country.
“I will not dump this report like any other one before but will implement it, because if the problems are not contained, they are not solved. The Jos crisis is worrisome because of the frequency of its occurrence. We want a lasting solution to it. We don’t want to experience it again.
“We will use it as a model to solve similar crises in other parts of the country where they occur. We will set up a little committee to look at the report closely and see how we can implement it. I can assure you that government will clinically address the situation once and for all,” he further assured.
The president commended members of the committee for a job well done, describing them as people of integrity and competence.
Other members of the committee include another former Plateau Governor, Fidelis Tapgun; former deputy Senate presidents, John Wash Pam and Ibrahim Nasiru Mantu; Professor Nenfot Gomwalk, Ambassador Yahaya Kwande, Barrister Smart Irabo, Hon. Leo Dilkon and AVM Umaru Abbas, among others.
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