Search for Common Ground (SFCG), an international NGO, has disclosed that the Nigerian government loses $12 billion yearly due to insecurity in the Middle Belt region of the country. Speaking in Jos, Nigeria, at a one-day workshop tagged ‘Advancing a Credible and Peaceful Media in Plateau State’, the Country Director of the organisation, Mr. Sher Nawaz, said, ‘Because of insecurity in the Middle Belt, Nigeria loses $12 billion annually. This was research done by our sister organisation, Mercy Corps. It applied different techniques to get this figure. The loss has been incurred due to the high level of insecurity. If people cannot go out and farm, it is actually some sort of cost’.
The aim of the workshop was to sensitise the media on strengthening peace through their reportage. Nawaz added that SFCG ‘through its five-month-long peace project on the Plateau, w[ill] use the media as a tool for conflict transformation in the state. If the insecurity problem is solved, the household income in the Middle Belt will be increased from 60 percent to 210 percent. That is how life will change if there is peace’.
The Plateau State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Dan Manjang, expressed his gratitude to the NGO for its peace-building project and the media sensitisation workshop. Manjang averred that the state government is committed to the peace and good governance that will lead to development.
Source: Vanguard
Photo source: Allywin13
