Build Roads, Not Graves, Ex-PPBA DG Tells Plateau Stakeholders

• Says Unity and Development are “Two Wheels of the Same Bicycle”

Our Correspondent

Former Director General of the Plateau Peace Building Agency, Dr. Joseph Lengmang, on Friday told stakeholders at the PIDAN retreat that Plateau State will only move forward when peace is treated as the presence of security, justice and opportunity, not just the absence of gunfire.

Speaking on “Promoting Peaceful Coexistence Through Unity in Development,” Lengmang said the state is at a critical moment, facing developmental, security and social cohesion challenges, but expressed “cautious optimism” that with collective resolve, Plateau can rise.

“I think there is hope on the horizon. We will rise as a people who might have been touched by adversity over the years, but we are confident in the promise of a better world,” he said.

He thanked PIDAN leadership and members, adding, “Perhaps, if you were not there, the situation would have been worse. A road that carried resentment, then hope”

Lengmang opened with the story of two neighbouring communities whose feeder road ended at their boundary, sparking suspicion. After dialogue, both communities agreed to share the road, bridge and produce centre. Young people worked together, and trade resumed.

“The road became more than infrastructure. It became a visible and practical argument that their futures were connected,” he said.

“Peace is strengthened when development gives people a reason to collaborate. Unity and development are the two wheels of the same bicycle. Remove one, and Plateau cannot travel very far into the future.”

The former DG said the conversation was happening “on wounded ground,” recalling the Jos crisis of 2001, Yelwa 2004, Jos and Barkin Ladi 2010, and repeated attacks in Bokkos, Riyom, Bassa, Dogo Nahawa and Mangu.

He cited the April 2025 attack in Zike, Bassa; the July 2025 killing of more than 20 people in the Tahoss in Riyom; and an attack “only days ago” that reportedly took at least 24 lives.

“These are not merely pictures. Every victim had a name, a family, an unfinished plan,” he said.

Dr. Lengmang described violence as “a thief with many hands” that takes life, closes farms, empties markets and “steals hope,” noting that young people now “know checkpoints better than libraries.”

The ex-DG said PIDAN must honestly address fractured relations between indigenous communities and sections of the Fulani population.

“Indigenous communities carry legitimate fears arising from repeated attacks, displacement, destruction of ancestral settlements and encroachment on farmland,” he said, stressing that “a killing village attack at night is not a clash.”

He, however, warned against collective guilt, stating, “Fulani families are not one undifferentiated militia. There are pastoralists, traders, professionals, women and children who have grown up here, and who have themselves suffered violence. The difficult work of peacebuilding is to hold these two truths together,” he said.

Dr. Lengmang rejected what he called “negative peace,” silence enforced by fear or by the presence of Operation Safe Haven and Operation Rainbow and criticized peace agreements that collapse and official visits followed by press statements.

“Genuine peace is not a question of the optics, the media frenzy,” he said.

Citing trackers, he said Nigeria loses “nothing less than 75 people every blessed day” to armed violence, yet national outrage disappears within weeks.

“Have we lost our sense of humanity?”

He defined real peace practically: “a young farmer in Mangu who can sleep at night without taking turns at the watch post; a pupil in Riyom completing a school term without the fear of displacement; displaced families returning safely and voluntarily.”

The former DG said the continued presence of Internally Displaced Persons shows “the issues that gave rise to that situation have not been resolved.”

Drawing on Singapore’s rise after being expelled from Malaysia with no resources, Lengmang said, “If they can do it, we can do it. But the question is, do we have the political will? Are we honest? Are we sincere about the conversation?”

He cited a geologist’s view that regulated mining, distinguishing industrial and artisanal, “has the capacity to be a foreign exchange earner for Plateau State,” comparing it to Australia, South Africa and Botswana.

“Our own is turning out to be more of a curse than a blessing.”

Lengmang said peace requires attackers to be arrested, prosecuted and punished, victims supported, land disputes settled credibly, and security personnel held accountable for negligence.

He also raised the “minority question,” saying it now appears difficult for minority groups to produce a governor and that governance has become exclusionary.

“When a young man believes that effort, rather than identity or connection, can open a door, that is what defines peace,” he said.

He urged government at all levels to move “beyond the grammar of condemnation,” calling condemnation morally necessary but “not a security strategy.”

He cited Israel’s “Never again” resolve after the Holocaust as a model for strengthening Nigeria’s security architecture.

“Peace will not come because we have perfected the language of condemnation. It comes when protection becomes reliable, justice becomes credible, opportunity becomes shared, and belonging becomes real. Then unity will cease to be a word on a banner. It will become the road we travel, the market we share and the future we build together,” he concluded.

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