By Gabriel Yough
Jalingo – The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), an NGO, is to train 300 Tiv/Jukun youths on skills to engage them positively and ward off the tendency to engage in violence.
The group, in a communique issued at the end of a two-day conflict resolution meeting in Jalingo, said that the scheme would expose the youths to opportunities they could explore and grow into becoming assets to the society.
The communique made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Saturday in Jalingo, was signed by Malam Abdul-Azeez Suleiman for CNG, Chief Goodman Dahida, President-General, Tiv Cultural and Social Association in Taraba, and Mr Daniel Angyu, spokesperson for the Jukun community.
“The CNG will initiate an immediate process for the training of Jukun and Tiv youths in conflict resolution and management techniques as well as skills acquisition and exposure to wealth creation opportunities starting with an initial 300 youths from the two groups.
“The leaders will mobilise the people, particularly the youth of the two tribes involved in the crisis, to resist further bloodshed.
“CNG will also sensitise leaderships of the warring communities to support the legitimate aspirations of their youth to reverse the current trend that make the youths feel marginalised and irrelevant.
“Taraba communities must unite, rediscover and pursue common goals that include their historic unity, their political and economic development, the strength of their religious, social and moral values and respect for their diversities,” the communique stated.
The coalition pledged to bring the 19 northern governors, traditional rulers and Northern Elders’ Forum to converge on Jalingo on Oct. 29, 2019, to seek lasting solutions to the lingering Jukun/Tiv crisis.
The communique explained that Jukun and Tiv community leaders would soon initiate an immediate end to hostilities and intensify genuine search for peaceful co-existence and sustained security in areas hit by the violence.
It stated that an implementation committee comprising three representatives each, from the Tiv and Jukun communities would be set up to implement the resolutions, monitor and evaluate the level of successes.
NAN reports that the Tiv/Jukun crisis, which began on April 1 in Kente community of Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba, has spread to other local government areas in the south of Taraba, claiming many lives and property worth millions of naira.
(NAN)
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