Taraba State Governor, Dr. Agbu Kefas has tasked journalists to champion peaceful coexistence and remove stereotypes while reporting on the herder’s/farmers conflict.
Kefas, speaking through his Chief of Staff, Dr. Jeji Williams, at an experience-sharing dialogue organized by Search for Common Ground (SFCG) under the Contributing to the Mitigation of Conflict over Natural Resources Between Farmer and Herder Communities (COMITAS II) project for select journalists in Taraba and Adamawa states over the weekend, acknowledged that the picture of the conflict over the years had been bleak.
However, he noted that journalists can change the narrative for the good of both farmers and herders.
According to him, “As journalists, we are the ones who would project Nigeria and its various societies to the outside world.
“We should emphasize mutual coexistence rather than discharging our duties in ways that would exacerbate division among farmers and herders.
“The role of journalists is to ensure that societies coexist peacefully and ensure that the government provides support to the various demographics, and in this case, farmers and herders, to flourish.”
He further lauded the European Union and other development partners for launching the COMITAS II project to help states like Taraba and Adamawa, where conflicts between herders and farmers are rife.
SFCG’s Media Coordinator for the COMITAS II Project, Victor Okpanachi, while giving an overview of the project in both states, noted that significant progress had been made in conflict-torn communities and urged the media to tell these stories for others to learn.
Also, the Taraba State COMITAS II Programme Manager for SFCG, Gambo Wada, and his Project/Training counterpart, Dubi Sonam, both encouraged the media to help sustain the relative peace that the project has brought between farmers and herders through solutions journalism.
