By Brave Dickson
The people of Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State have blamed the insecurity in the area to what they described as fake news.
The stakeholders of the area came up with this during a security community architecture dialogue meeting organized by an international non governmental organization known as Search For Common Ground which took place in kpor community, the headquarters of the LGA.
In its technical session, the stakeholders identified: Lack of proper information, deliberate attempt to deceive, envy, greed and selfishness, lack of cooperation as well as idleness as causes of fake news.
They also pointed the solutions to include: Enlightenment campaign, dialogue among parties, good conscience, employment and empowerment, cooperation, avoidance of false rumour as well as honesty and transparency.
Developing an action point at the end of the dialogue meeting, the stakeholders further stated as follows:
1) To carryout public awareness campaign.
2) To identify key actors of misinformation, violence perpetrators and dialogue with them and.
3) To carryout advocacy to strategic members of the communities
Speaking at the dialogue meeting, the Rivers State Coordinator of Search For Common Ground, Mr Cosmos Dinee described the meeting as a platform aimed at enabling the stakeholders to carryout social actions that would address issues of violent conflict in their respective domains.
Mr Dinee maintained that violent conflict had never helped any society and urged the stakeholders to make good use of the peace building techniques they have acquired from the meeting to foster peace in their respective localities.
On his part, the SFCG Local Project Committee Chairman, Elder John Barika expressed his heartfelt appreciation to Search For Common Ground over the peace it has come to deepen in kpor community and Niger Delta at large.
He added: “My advice to my fellow participants is to put in practice what we have learnt in this meeting.
“They should instill dialogue, friendship and peace at all times. I hope to see a very peaceful Gokana LGA via this meeting”
Also, the 2YC of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Gokana Division, Nkin Godson said, “this meeting has broaden my knowledge on peace building.
“I urge the participants to put in practice, the things they have acquired from this meeting because they are beneficial to them, their families and communities at large.”
Our correspondent reports that while Gokana LGA stakeholders attributed the major cause of insecurity to fake news, their counterparts in Okrika and Port Harcourt City LGAs identified cultism as the major cause of violent conflicts.
