The Plateau Association in the United States of America (PSA-USA) on Sunday organised a psychosocial and trauma healing session for victims and survivors of recent terror attacks in Plateau State.

Recall that gunmen on March 29 attacked the Angwan Rukuba community of Jos North Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The gunmen killed some persons and injured many others.

Speaking, the President of PSA-USA, Dr Barth Shepkong, said that the event was organised in collaboration with the Saphira Global Centre for Social Development.

He said the gesture aimed at providing a safe space for the victims to ventilate their innermost feelings.

He stated that victims of attacks were often left with trauma, hence the need for psychosocial support to enable them put the past behind them and move on.

He added, “One of the things that we have noticed as an association, especially when there’s a crisis on the Plateau, is that the aspect of the psychosocial or the emotional and psychological support is usually neglected. So, that is why we are here today to make sure that the victims of angwan rukuba get a platform to speak out.

“We are here to encourage them and at the same time give them a platform to let everything out, because they carry a lot of emotions. So basically, it’s a safe space for them, particularly for the women and children that are affected to learn more how to cope psychologically and emotionally.”

Mr Shepkong, who decried the rising killings in the state, called on the government at all levels and the security agencies to tackle the menace.

He particularly said that insecurity remained a major set back towards the development of Plateau State and Nigeria in general.

The president, however, called on residents of the state to live in peace with one another, eschew violence and be tolerant at all times.

On her part, the Executive Director of Saphira Global Centre for Social Development, Yil Fomwul-Gonsum, said that 66 survivors, including those who lost their loved ones benefitted from the initiative.

Mrs Fomwul-Gonsum said that the beneficiaries were carefully selected, adding that the move basically aimed at providing psychosocial support that would enable the victims to forge ahead.

She noted that moving forward, her organisation would make arrangements for further intervention to support the victims.

(NAN)

The winning runner at a Beijing half-marathon for humanoid robots finished the race today in 50 minutes and 26 seconds — significantly faster than the human world record of 57 minutes recently set by Jacob Kiplimo.

Comparing human and robot running times may seem unfair; one social media user observed, “my car can outrun a cheetah too.” Still, the winning time is a massive improvement over last year’s race, when the fastest robot finished in two hours and 40 minutes. (Back then, I scoffed that this “would not be an impressive time for a human.”)

The Associated Press reports that this year’s winner was built by Chinese smartphone maker Honor. It seems the winning robot wasn’t actually the fastest, as a different Honor robot finished in 48 minutes and 19 seconds. But that one was remote controlled — the 50:26 robot was autonomous and won due to weighted scoring.

About 40% of participating robots competed autonomously, while the remaining 60% were remote controlled, according to Beijing’s E-Town tech hub. Not all of them did as well as Honor’s robots, with one robot falling at the starting line and another hitting a barrier.