Jos: After The Crisis

The recent outbreak of crises in Jos, Plateau State, is what many Nigerians will not forget in a hurry because the scale of horror in the public disturbances was highly unimaginable.

However, peace is gradually returning to the city and its environs, as a result of concerted efforts by authorities at different levels.

Political analysts and stakeholders observe that many options are being explored to ensure lasting peace in the city, once regarded as one of the most peaceful in the country.

One of them is what some observers have dubbed the “Zango Kataf Option” – a strategy that paved the way for the eventual peace in Zango-Kataf and other parts of Kaduna State, which were embroiled in an ethno-religious upheaval in the 1990s.

In that initiative, the then Kaduna State Government, under Col. Isa Jafaru, the military administrator, set up a reconciliation committee, which comprised seven members each from the Hausa and Kataf communities. The committee looked at ways of achieving peace in the troubled area.

Dr Joseph Golwa, Director-General, Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), says that the Zango-Kataf strategy of “parleying and dialoguing” remains an attractive model for the resolution of the Jos crises.

According to him, the strategy worked for Zango-Kataf, an area in Kaduna State, which had erupted into violence at the minutest reason.

Analysts recall that few years ago when Kaduna State was once again threatened by a religious strife over Sharia, the state government found the “parley and dialogue” initiative handy and effective in dousing the blooming tension.

Aware of the success of the initiative in Kaduna State, the Plateau Government recently dispatched a delegation to Kaduna to understudy the mechanics of the strategy; with a view to adopting it in efforts to find lasting solutions to the incessant crises in Jos and its environs.

The delegation’s leader, Mr Jidauna Dimka, who is also the Secretary to the Plateau Government, held discussions with Patrick Yakowa, who was the then Deputy Governor, as well as other stakeholders.

“We are in Kaduna to learn about the Zango-Kataf peace strategy and replicate it in our state,” Dimka then told his hosts, adding that Plateau was desirous of adopting the security arrangements used in curtailing Zango-Kataf crisis.

“We are out to find a lasting solution to the crises in Plateau and the government is poised to go to any area outside the state, where it can borrow any experience, just to ensure an end to the crises,” he said.

He expressed optimism that the adoption of the Kaduna initiative would engender a lasting peace in Plateau and so, bid “a final bye-bye to the violent crisis”.

According to Yakowa, a salient aspect of the Kaduna initiative is that the government must be willing to invest substantial resources in security.

Officials of the Kaduna State Government advised Gov. Jonah Jang of Plateau to muster the political will, courage and determination needed to pragmatically implement all security decisions that were reached, no matter whose ox was gored.

The Kaduna officials, however, cautioned their Plateau counterparts that there would certainly be very contentious issues that would call for mutual compromise by the feuding communities, as the Zango-Kataf experience has indicated.

They said that for instance, the Katafs had wanted the Zango-Kataf market to be relocated from the town, while they also wanted the creation of a chiefdom to make for self-determination. The Katafs had complained that their Hausa neighbours allegedly disparaged them.

The officials recalled that the Hausas, on their part, wanted lands confiscated from them by the Katafs to be returned and were opposed to the relocation of the market.

They, nonetheless, said that an understanding was eventually attained through mutual acknowledgment of certain truths, while both parties made compromises to achieve an enduring peace.

In retrospect, some observers say that the Kaduna initiative was a classical resort to the “talking cure” theory of Sigmund Freud, a renowned psychologist, neurolgist and philosopher in the early 19th Century.

In the main, the “talking cure” approach enables humans to purge themselves of all their ill feelings, just by expressing them.

Political analysts and historians are quick to recall that the creation of buffer zones was also a prominent feature in the Kaduna initiative aimed at settling the crisis between the Katafs and Hausas in the Zango-Kataf neighbourhood.

They note that while the Katafs agreed to return some lands to the Hausas, the Hausas, on their part, pledged to support the Katafs’ quest for an independent chiefdom. Adjustments were also made in community and farmland boundaries on the basis of compromise.

The analysts also recall that shortly after the parley, the Kaduna State Government created a chiefdom for the Katafs and a district for the Hausas, while relocating the market and rebuilding the damaged houses. The area had since known permanent peace.

Some observers note that successive governments in Kaduna State had built on the initiative, which has sustained the peace in the area and other parts of the state.

Some analysts, nonetheless, urged Plateau people to trust their leaders’ commitment to the peace-building efforts, while canvassing for a level-playing field for all stakeholders in the peace process.

All the same, the analysts contend that the Isa Jafaru administration succeeded in resolving the Zango-Kataf crisis because it demonstrated a genuine interest in ensuring peace in the area, while attracting the confidence of all the parties.

“The major challenge for Gov. Jonah Jang is to demonstrate a sincere political will and determination to move Plateau State forward,” Golwa says

“We need a peace parley which should be something like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission but before then, every offence in the past crises must not go unpunished.

“ Those identified to be responsible for the violence should be made to account for their actions, no matter their status in the society.

“Jang must also be able to identify genuine leaders from all groups – the Beroms, Jarawa, Anagutas, Hausa and Fulani, and make them active participants in the peace process,” he says.

While some citizens underscore the need for the Plateau Government to put in place some crisis-prevention strategies, others stress the need for the feuding parties to make sacrifices and compromises, particularly on very contentious issues, if genuine peace must be attained.

Alhaji Mahmud Jega, the Editor, Daily Trust, says that sacrifices on the part of stakeholders are imperative, adding that no sacrifice is too much for peace.

“For example, some communities could withhold their political ambitions for now, while using their numerical strength to determine who emerges as the winner,” he says.

Some concerned citizens urge the state government to identify and tackle the external factors widely believed to be responsible for the incessant crises.

Mr Sylvester Usman, a university don, believes that there could be some external influence in the recurring crises, as suggested by the Chief Solomon Lar-led Presidential Advisory Committee on Jos crises.

He supports the recommendation of the committee that President Goodluck Jonathan should convene a meeting of all neighbouring state governments, who have allegedly been remotely connected with the crises, as well as other stakeholders.

Some observers, nonetheless, urge the Federal Government to play a pivotal role in efforts to resolve the Jos crises since it controls the security agencies that are currently engaged in peacekeeping efforts in Jos.

Jidauna Yannung, a journalist, says that “no group should behave in such a way that will raise questions as to its neutrality”.

Analysts note that the general opinion of a cross-section of Jos residents is that peace should return to the “Tin” city, as they are all wearied of the crises.

Observers have also advised the state government to strive toward reducing the number of idle persons on the plateau by creating job opportunities for the people.

This way, they say, Plateau State will soon be able to reclaim its old reputation as a most peaceful state in Nigeria.

Sheyin writes for NAN

Ephraims Sheyin