Jos, Plateau State – Young people, influencers, and community leaders gathered on Friday, 29th August, for “Beyond the Divide: Plateau Echoes for Unity”, a dialogue convened by Search for Common Ground under the Youth Collective Action for Religious Engagement (Youth CARE) Project. The program aimed at bridging faith divides both online and offline while strengthening interfaith harmony.
Speaking at the event, Kaura Joshua, Project Officer of Youth CARE, underscored the importance of broadening perspectives on religion. “There are over 4,200 religions in the world, yet many only know of Christianity and Islam. The more we understand this, the more we can respect diversity and embrace peace,” he said.
Blessing Dodo, Team Lead for Plateau Micro-influencers, warned that misinformation and biased content often fuel division online, stressing the need for fact-checking before sharing. She said the dialogue was meant to strengthen respect, tolerance, and responsible engagement both on social media and in communities.
In a keynote address on “Unity as Everyday Practice”, Kenneth Dakop, Team Lead on Strategic Communication at the Plateau State Peace Building Agency, urged youths to treat unity as a daily practice. He cautioned against messages of religious superiority. He called for conflict-sensitivity training for religious leaders and urged youths to use education, empowerment, and commerce as practical tools for building peace. stressing that “peace requires respect for all faiths, including African traditional religions. Freedom of religion must go hand in hand with tolerance and responsibility,” he added.
Also speaking, Godwin Okoko, Head of Programme Implementation at Search for Common Ground, reminded participants that while religion is often used to mask conflict, the real drivers are ethnicity, land, and history. He challenged youths to use their voices to promote unity instead of division.
The panel session featured Salis Mohammad Abdulsalam, Stephen Zuma Jang, Ada Ohaba, and Hamza Yakubu, who shared experiences on fostering tolerance and peaceful coexistence through social media and grassroots engagement.
Participants committed to taking the message back to their communities. Assumpta Chidera emphasized showing love rather than mere tolerance, while Ibrahim Aliyu Ibni-Salihu said peace is essential for development. Others, including Nentok Israel Mallah and Maryam Ibrahim, pledged to practice and promote interfaith understanding in their daily lives.
