From: Denen Achussah, Makurdi
Journalists in Benue State under the umbrella of Benue Media Peace Network, have identified commitment; visibility; linkages; strategic plan; Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and registration of the network, as targets for the future of the network.
The above was the outcome of Day One of the Two Day activities to mark the close out of Community Initiatives to Promote Peace (CIPP), a Mercy Corps programme for implementation in Nigeria’s six states of Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Plateau and Benue, with view to ensuring peace.
Bamber Terseer, Senior Programme Officer, Mercy Corps, says during his welcome speech that the essence of the meeting was to plan for the sustainability of the network ahead of the close out of Mercy Corps intervention in April next year.
CIPP, he says is meant to support communities to identify the root causes of conflict in their domains and come out with local solutions to the issues to ensure peace.
The Benue Media Peace Network was formed following training on Conflict Sensitivity and Do No Harm training, towards achieving reports that will douse tension rather than escalate conflict.
And Bamber says the “close out” meeting was to plan how the network can be sustained even after the expiration of the life of the programme.
Members of the network, while sharing their experiences as peace journalists were optimistic that the network will become a leading peace journalists/media network in Nigeria with a strong voice to influence policy and government decisions in the state as well as have strong visibility in the nearest future.
State Coordinator of Benue Media Peace Network, Hembadoon Orsar of Leadership, in her remarks, thanked Mercy Corps for bringing journalists on board as stakeholders in the peace process.
She assured that journalists in the state will continue to file reports with view to dousing tension rather than escalating conflict while expressing the hope that the network will be sustained.
