The 24 hours curfew Imposed on Jos north local government of Plateau state has been relaxed to commence from 6pm to 6am while the curfew in Jos South and Bassa LGAs is to commence from 10pm to 6am.
Governor Simon Lalong who made the announcement in a state wide broadcast said the relaxation will commence from Monday August thirtieth till further notice after review of the security situation in the state which has greatly improved.
Governor Lalong also said “the ban on commercial tricycles called keke and motor bikes remain banned while the economic summit planned for the first and second September is postponed till further notice. The state is going through a very difficult time as people continue to plan destabilizing the state but citizens should not allow conflict merchants use politics, religion and ethnicity to divide the state”.
He said several meetings were held between Irigwe and Fulani leaders as well as other stakeholders and the inter religious council to forestall the outbreak of more violence stating that ” these attacks are pure criminality given ethno religious coloration which will not be allowed to take root as these criminals will be succeed as the state is guided by rules as such people should not take the laws into their hands”.
Governor Simon Lalong said the Plateau Peace building Agency has held thirty four community dialogue sessions in Bassa between January and June alone while various relief materials have been distributed to Bassa communities by the agency with support from USAID with more expected from the ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management.
He also expressed appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of police for approving and deploying more security personnel to the state.
Plateau state has witnessed various violent conflicts with the government often rising to the occasion to prevent escalation and restore normalcy.
Relaxing the curfew in the three local government areas will restore life to some level of normalcy as these are the key commercial centres of the state. The cost of the conflict is yet to be ascertained.
Ime N
