Buratai to media practitioners: support military operations through balanced reportage

TRACKING >The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen Tukur Yusuf Buratai on Monday called on media practitioners to support the military activities and operations especially that of Nigerian Army through balanced reportage.

The Army boss, who spoke at the opening of the Directorate of Army Public Relations (DAPR) study period holding at 1 Div, Kaduna, believed that, the role of the media in national security could not be overemphasized, hence, his call on the media practitioners to do more in the area of balanced reportage in the overall interest of national security.

Buratai who was represented by the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 1 Div, Major General Faruq Yahaya, expressed concern over a situation whereby criminal elements are being celebrated by the media practitioners while security activities and operations are under reported.

He then called on the DAPR and other sister agencies participating at the study period that, the deliberations should lead to the fashioning of better means of carrying out media operations.

In an address, Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Colonel Sagir Musa said, the DAPR study period over the years has been a veritable platform for robust interaction and cross fertilization of ideas between resource persons, moderators and participants.

According to him, the 2019 study period which is part of the training directive of the Nigerian Army, was no doubt unique and exceptionally important because it was the only avenue for interaction, learning, training and sharing of ideas between and among the DAPR family.

He said, the theme of the study titled “Strengthening the Nigerian Army Public Relations Officers’ Capacity in Managing Information in Contemporary Warfare”, was deliberately chosen as it was intended to further educate and examine the role information management officers play in the various theatres of operations where the battle space is witnessing aggression in the forms of propaganda, disinformation, psychological warfare and fake news, compounded by advancement in information communication technology.

“Despite these glaring challenges, our troops have been discharging their duties creditably and professionally during internal security operations across Nigeria.

“However, despite the obvious successes achieved by our troops in the various theatres of operations, this has often been under-reported or misrepresented by some sections of the Nigerian Society, who continuously portray the Nigerian Army in bad light.

“This has negative impact on morale and the fighting spirit of the Nigerian Army personnel,” he said.

Presenting a paper titled: “Crisis Communication Approach to Tackling Security Challenges”, former Defence Spokesman, Major General Chris Olukokade (rtd) noted that, “Crisis will happen when we least expect it. Crisis will involve people and always try to disrupt normalcy in the system as you must bear in mind the fact that, they are either physically violence or non-violence causes.

“Public perception of handling of any crisis is developed through communication or lack of it by both public and the media. The agencies of government are therefore obligated to assist in developing public perception by ensuring social and direct information on crisis issues,” he said.