Security expert wants public relations outfit for Nigerian military

A security expert, Isaac Albert, the Regional Board Chairman, West Africa Network for Peace building (WANEP), on Thursday said there was need for the Nigerian Military to have a more active public relations outfit.

Albert, who is also a professor of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ibadan, said that the military’s engagement in counter terrorism operations in the North- East require a formidable media outfit that would render an accurate reportage of their operations.

He bemoaned the role played by the media in under-reporting the efforts made by the military in their counter insurgency operations during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

“I think the media gave much attention to reporting what the Boko Haram insurgents did than the efforts made by the federal government in curtailing their activities,” he said. “The misleading impression was that the military did not do enough. Their role was under reported.”

He noted that the Cameroonian, Nigerien and Chadian military took advantage of such misleading reports to show that they were mightier than the Nigerian military.

In the era under review, the regional chairman said that there was a conspiracy by the local and international media to perceive the Nigeria military to be weak.

“The goal of the media conspiracy was to project a false perception that the military was weak, and that it was led by a weak Commander-in-Chief,” he said. “The Nigeria military must have a more active public relations outfit. We need a re-engineered Nigerian military.”

The security expert urged the Civil Military Directorate of the Nigeria Army to see itself as a media outfit vested with reporting verifiable exploits of the military.

“The directorate should generate information from the military and report them professionally for public consumption,” he said. “It should be organizing seminars, workshops and symposiums to sensitize the general public on their role in counter terrorism.”

According to him, the Nigerian media should see terrorism as a war that requires the collaboration of every Nigerian to prosecute and win. The professor, however, commended the new Army Chief, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, for generating professional information on the activities of the military for the local media.