Plateau State lies near the heart of Nigeria’s “Middle Belt.” It is an ethnically plural axis that sprawls across much of central Nigeria. The State is blessed with a beautiful landscape of gently rolling hills and a pleasant climate. It is a city on a hill and so it is not hidden. In other words, it is situated atop the Plateau that gives the state its name. It shares borders with Nasarawa to the north, Bauchi to the east, and Kaduna state to the west. In fact, the largest population in the State is ethnically and religiously pluralistic, a situation typical of the central States of Nigeria known as the Middle Belt. In a simple sense, Plateau State is miniature Nigeria.

Notably, before September 2001, peace and tourism were the attractive and descriptive features of Jos, which branded her “home of peace and tourism”. In fact, the State attracted the greatest numbers of expatriate and tourists in Nigeria.

Relationship and interaction among the inhabitants of the State were very close and cordial irrespective of their religious affiliations. Their level of interaction socially, politically, and economically was quite admirable. It is as if to say that the people of Jos Plateau were mindful of her pluralistic nature and so respected and guarded it jealously.

Concepts such as ‘peace’, ‘brotherliness’ and ‘neighborliness’ were rooted in the daily vocabulary of the people. Christian parents could leave their children under the daily care of Muslim mothers with no iota of doubt as to their security or safety, until they returned from work. Likewise, Muslims would need Christians to serve as witnesses to them in law courts or when buying or during the sale of properties. Both shared gifts items and even cooked food with each other during festivities such as Christmas and Sallah celebrations. And also, in addition to this reputation of being a very peaceful City, the Christians, Muslims and adherents of Traditional beliefs were found coexisting side by side each other, enjoying a harmonious relationship. And many people from all over Nigeria were attracted by this lifestyle and would love to come and settle in Jos.

However, this enviable peaceful relationship that was build over time, has been shattered overnight. The then “we” and “ours” relationship has today found replacements in the “yan kasa- yan zama” da “namu” ko “nasu” (“indigene-settler” and “us” versus “them”) dichotomy. Today, instead of sleeping with our eyes closed, they are now half-closed if not completely opened. Instead of maintaining our admirable status of peace makers, we now play the role of peace keepers – engaged in damage control. Instead of maintaining the then good vocabularies of “neighborliness”, “peace”, and common “brotherhood”, we now have replacement in the homo religiousus’ branding one another as “enemies”, “security threat”, haters of peace and progress, evil people, etc. This is the hard currency paid and painfully, when brotherhood and good neighborliness in any nation/state are betrayed.

In a nutshell, Plateau State has joined the line of those African states that have been labeled, “Red Flag zones.” This is because issues in violent-conflicts have also joined in the “settlers” debate on the soil of the once beautiful Plateau. Violent-conflicts on the Jos Plateau are gaining more momentum and taking quite distinct dimensions. Some of these dimensions manifest in the state of uncertainty in which people live today, knowing very little what is likely to happen in the next couple of time and the recurrent and reprisal attacks the State is now characterized by.

COULD THERE EVER BE A RETURN TO STATUS QUO IN JOS? COULD THE GOOD OLD DAYS EVER RETURN?

…Only if we emphasis what kept us together all those decades and de-emphasis what now pulls us apart. And only if we can remove those bloody boundries, which separate Christian communities from Muslim communities in the State, Jos would never remain thesame again, never!