THE advantage of the  decentralisation of the  SSS, CIB and the  PMF barracks is that it will  not only enable faster and better intelligence gathering on potential crises, but will reduce the time security forces take to  respond to such crises, and  thereby nib them in the bud before they escalate.

As at today, it takes hours before security agents respond to crises and sometimes their response is based on faulty intelligence, due in part to the absence of agents on the ground.
Urgent Need for Dialogue.

It is the duty of every person in Plateau State to be concerned, especially the elite. Unfortunately, many of us have remained aloof, we have kept quiet, for too long, instead we silently lament and grief about our dear Jos. This is either because we feel the problem is a Jos- centric issue or because we think we do not have a role to play.

Others have kept away because they think (and sadly this may sometimes be true) that no-one will listen to them, especially a State Government that has frequently been accused of shutting the door against any opinion that is not coming from its inner circle.

As a result, we have seemingly abandoned the search for solutions to the Jos crises to an over stretched Military Task Force some of whose recalcitrant members may have began to take sides in a battle that has dangerously become sectarian.

As elite, we should realise that no matter how many times we pray and fast, no matter how many times our wives and mothers protest on the streets of Jos, if we don’t stand up and do something about our reconciliation, all our prayers and mourning for peace may be in vain.

Let us not  bequeath to our children a worse problem than Kigali 1994– that is if it doesn’t happen during our time!
I want to beg all the  Jos/Plateau elite from cross religious and ethnic divides- Christians, Muslims, Berom, Hausas, Afizeres, Igbos, Yoruba, South-South, Anagutas, Ngas, Tarok etc to come out and in our various corners, initiate and support the need to engage in sincere dialogue and open up channels of communication across the “battle lines.”
Dialogue is not a reflection of cowardice; dialogue is not a capitulation to the “other side”.  Rather, dialogue is maturity.

Just think of it. For how long will we continue to mourn and appear helpless?   For how long will we continue to bury our brothers and sisters and embark upon wailing demonstrations? For how long must we look helpless or look only to Abuja  for help every time the crises break out in Jos? How much  dialogue have we tried on our own?

I have heard some people say you can’t dialogue with an enemy bent on “fighting to the finish”. But my reply is that it is the absence of dialogue that pushes people into hard positions. I strongly believe that we have not exhausted all avenues for dialogue.

I humbly call on Governor Jonah Jang to bury his pride and take a short break from his relentless pursuit of the second term and initiate the dialogue process. As the constitutionally sworn-in Governor to all and by extension, father to all, I implore him to arrange a platform where all the warring factions in the Jos crises  be brought together, let us hear each other out and find out how we can all  live together.

* A sincere dialogue session can help us identify what are the issues in contention?
* What does each party want?
* What can be given to each party?
* What cannot be given?

I recall that when the September 2001 crises was trying to get out of control, a meeting of all key elite was convened in August 2002 in Jos and was chaired by Chief Solomon Lar. It may not have solved the problem entirely but that dialogue session went along way to bring people together.

I wish to suggest that this time around, one of the most respected sons of Plateau State, General Yakubu Gowon be approached to drive such a dialogue and reconciliation  process. It shouldn’t be another jamboree session to be hijacked by politicians but a serious minded process.

I believe that with sincere and open hearted approach, dialogue can assist to reconcile people and create frameworks to find long-lasting solutions.

Examples of how dialogue has solved seemingly intractable sectarian differences can be found in the crises in Northern Ireland which defied solutions for nearly a century, pitting Catholics and Protestants against each other in bloody .

Mr. EZEKIEL GOMOS was SSG to the Plateau State from 1999- 2003.