The Plateau Youth Council (PYC) Jos North, in partnership with the Faleed School of Peace Studies (FSPS), has graduated over 100 participants trained in peace and conflict resolution, with a charge on them to use the knowledge acquired to promote peaceful coexistence in their communities.
The graduation ceremony, held at EBOMI Outreach Ministries International in Jos, attracted academics, clergymen, youth leaders and other stakeholders. The scholarship-based training was designed to equip young people with practical skills in conflict management, resolution and transformation and prepare them to serve as peace ambassadors.
Speaking at the ceremony, Chairman of the Plateau State Youth Council, Jos North LGA, Amb. Paul S. Mancha, said the training had equipped the 27 graduates with the knowledge and practical skills required to manage, resolve and transform conflicts in their communities.
Mancha urged the graduates to put their training into practice, saying the true value of the programme would be measured by their ability to promote peace, unity and peaceful coexistence among people in their respective communities.
He commended the Founder of EBOMI Outreach Ministries International, Prophet Isa El-Buba, for supporting the initiative and providing a platform for the training, describing his investment in youth development and peacebuilding as a valuable contribution to society.
Also speaking, President of the Faleed School of Peace Studies, Dr. Seidu Ochimana, said the institution was not only celebrating the completion of the graduates’ professional studies but also launching a new generation of peacemakers into a society that needed their skills.
Ochimana said the graduates had been equipped to understand conflict, mediation, negotiation and reconciliation. He urged them to use the knowledge and empathy acquired to bridge social, cultural and religious divides and promote justice and understanding.
He charged the graduates to become agents of peace wherever they found themselves, saying every policy, programme and conversation could provide an opportunity to build a more peaceful society. Ochimana congratulated the graduates and encouraged them to “go out and build, go out and heal, and go out and bridge the divides.”
Delivering a lecture on “Bridging Divides, Building Futures,” Rev. Prof. Cephas T.A. Tushima described the graduation as more than a celebration of academic achievement, but a commissioning of the graduates to become builders of bridges and futures. He said Nigeria’s diversity had often been turned into division, worsened by insecurity, communal violence, displacement and declining trust among citizens.
Tushima urged the graduates to use their knowledge to reconcile, mediate, listen, negotiate and build trust across ethnic and religious divides. Quoting the Bible, he stressed the difference between loving peace and actively making peace, saying, “A peacemaker enters a difficult space between opposite people.”
Certificates were subsequently presented to the graduating participants.
Speaking on behalf of the graduates, Pastor Rotimi Olayinka described the ceremony as a celebration of learning, perseverance, transformation and achievement.
He said the graduates came from different backgrounds but were united by a shared desire to understand conflict and contribute to peacebuilding, declaring, “We came as students, today we leave as peace builders.”
Olayinka appreciated the management, lecturers, facilitators, families and friends for their support throughout the programme, urging his fellow graduates to apply their knowledge in their communities and professions by promoting dialogue, justice, reconciliation and human dignity.
The next phase of the training is expected to commence in October, with members of the public, particularly youths, encouraged to participate and acquire skills that can help strengthen peaceful coexistence, conflict prevention and community development across Plateau State.
