Peace Advocates: 16 of 18 Cross River LGs are involved in communal disputes

According to two peace advocates and communicators, racial conflicts have broken out in 16 of Cross River State’s 18 local government units.

Speaking at a one-day course on strengthening capacity for journalists and social media influencers in peace journalism and crisis reporting were Efio Ita Nyok and Ukorebi Essien.

The social crusaders, a group that teaches the fundamentals of journalism and crisis reporting, revealed that only Calabar South LGA and Municipality had no pronounced communal skirmishes throughout its community study and peace advocacy.

“We are employed by Partners for Peace in the Niger Delta, a civil society organisation. We have travelled the entire length and breadth of the 18 LGAs and have found that 15 or 16 of them are experiencing strife.

The majority of community conflicts in our state are related to farmlands and tend to recur primarily during the wet season when people get ready to go farming.

Nyok, for his part, urged reporters not to report with bias and a purpose to polarise the issues at hand, but rather to give solutions or to build spaces for peace and discussions.

“Peace journalism should ensure that a crisis is resolved and avoid escalating animosity and polarisation.

“We should thoroughly investigate every aspect of the situation so that the report will give authorities room to act.”

Most confrontations go unreported, according to the group’s national secretary Moses Abang, who also noted that they had stepped in to resolve numerous local crises amicably between communities.