When the timetable for the ongoing Universities Tertiaries Examinations was released, leadership of my organisation, the Jos Renaissance Group (JRG), convened an emergency meeting to look at the security challenges facing the examinations, coming couple of weeks after the unfortunate Unguwar Rukuba mass shooting which reopened the old wounds in Jos and further polarised the city along Muslims/Christians divides.
The leadership of JRG decided to step in to see how best it can help to ensure peaceful examinations. The first step taken was to collate data of candidates especially those who are Muslims. Next is an analysis to determine centres that posed security challenges to Muslim candidates.
An announcement was put out Friday evening of March 10 on the JRG Whatsapp platform. Phone numbers of some leaders were put for contact with information from candidates concerning their centres, dates and times for their examinations.
By Sunday morning, JRG collated over 600 candidates with security challenging centres. Incidentally, even our Christian brothers and sisters were not left out as they called or sent their data.
On same March 10, JRG wrote a letter to the Plateau State Commissioner of Police highlighting the challenges ahead. The letter was copied to all the security agencies in the state..
By Monday March 13, more bodies including religious groups joined in the quest for a peaceful JAMB examinations exercise in Jos. Suddenly, both Muslims and Christians are forced to realise one simple significant and compelling lesson – we must coexist in peace with one another!
On Monday a critical stakeholders meeting took place with the JAMB Registrar along with his top officers in attendance.
At the meeting, the JAMB Registrar offered three options: to cancel the JAMB exams for 2026, revisit the postings to post candidates to safe areas (which means a further division of the city) or joining hands of Muslims and Christians leaders to ensure the examination was conducted peacefully, by ensuring the safety of candidates in the opposite sides domains.
Fortunately, all the stakeholders, including leaders of JNI and CAN, took the last option.
This experience exposed the folly of killing one another in Jos because of religious or tribal differences.
It is time for us to wake up and stop this senseless and avoidable rivalry that benefits no one. God in His wisdom created us differently. He brought us together under the same city.
The message is simple: we must live together. Alhamdulillahi so far no single candidate was harassed in any of the centres, apart from an incident at a centre that some Muslim candidates were prevented from praying in its open premises.
Tolerance and accommodation are key to our survival. We need one another to thrive as a people.