John Mkom reporting for facebookmag.blogspot.com
The Plateau State Capital, Jos has become a global focal point, certainly not in a good sense but in the consideration that the once beautiful, peaceful and hospitable city has been reduced to a terror zone of sorts, where killings, bombings, arson and mob violence, amongst others, have become the order of the day. John Mkom writes on this development.
There are few indigenous policy positions that achieve nearly every domestic consensus within the Nigerian community these days. A firm conviction that something should be done to end the crisis in the Jos region of Plateau State, however, is surely one of them. Regardless of whether the incessant carnage in Jos is described as religious killing, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, or jockeying for political power, among the political players on the plateau as they have been appearing all over the newspapers, since 2002. Just about everyone who has heard of Jos believes that more should be done to end the suffering.
So, why then does this persist after nearly eight years of incessant crises, thousands of news stories, countless speeches, and more than a dozen security council resolutions? Certainly, the people of Plateau State need nothing more than values of freedom, honest search of truth, equality in front of the law, equality between gender and (reciprocal) tolerance of religious denominations. And this is absolutely necessary, and unquestionably worth it, because the lives of the innocent citizens of this country are serious in danger.
The Jos crisis has claimed (and is still claiming) scores of lives everyday, with horrific stories of mass rape, murder, and unspeakable atrocities that have become commonplace in Jos. Since the January crisis in Jos, the major players in the crisis have been hibernating and have resorted to lugubrious and hideous nocturnal attack on children and women in various communities around Jos.
The December 23 bomb blast in the presence of ubiquitous military personnel has, once again, thrown Plateau State up for public odium and ridicule, bringing government's inability in cubing the crisis under severe scrutiny. Although Jos has attracted substantial media attention, little has been accomplished in attaining a long-term solution to the conflict.
It would be agreed that raising awareness of a problem is crucial, but it only goes so far. Tangible action must be taken to 'reduce the threat to Jos and other residents and save them of physical violence' and most importantly, 'to achieve a lasting political solution to end the conflict altogether. Left alone, the crisis would continue to grow increasingly dangerous for the people who live there, costing yet more Josites' lives, and costing everyone who has ever said 'never again' their credibility.
The clear answer, therefore, is that the national community must simply become more coordinated, more sophisticated, and ultimately more effective at ending the crisis in Jos. Though, achieving these goals will not be easy, and will certainly require the type of sustained political will that is only possible with sustained citizen advocacy. But they are possible. The real question, therefore, is not why the crisis in Jos persists, but whether we will collectively do what is necessary to end it. The time to be pro-Christianity or pro-Islam has gone; this is the time for all of us to be pro-peace.