The Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede has noted that, the media shapes not only the public perceptions and narratives, but influences and galvanizes public support vital to operational success.
The Army Chief stated this at the Directorate of Army public Relations study period and the Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information Workshop 2024 holding in Muhammadu Buhari Cantonment, Giri Abuja.
Lieutenant General Olufemi Oluyede who was represented by the Chief of Civil Military Affairs, Major General Nosakhare Ugbo, said the war in the Twenty First Century, though fought in battlefields, are won or lost in the media domain.
“The continuous and seamless collaboration between the Nigerian Army and the media must be maintained at all times. The Nigerian Army in particular, and the Armed Forces in general rely on the support of the public through the media to perform their statutory roles as enshrined in the Constitution.”
He admits that the Nigerian Army and military in general have recorded commendable successes in joint operations across the nation through effective media collaboration.
“This media workshop was designed in line with the schedule of the Nigerian Army training activities, with the aim of harnessing the potentials of the media for effective military operations, while tackling head-on the various security challenges facing our dear nation,” stated COAS.
The Director of Army Public Relations, Major General Onyema Nwachukwu, said the workshop is part of efforts at enhancing the existing relationship between information managers and security operations geared towards attaining national security objectives.
The ability of social media to spread fake news to deliberately misinformed, to promote sinister motives have become problematic, as misinformation affects national security, peace and development of the nation
According to General Nwachukwu, the workshop aims to encourage positive narrative, elicit better support for the security agencies and to strengthen already existing relationship between media and the military.
“The lukewarm attitude towards the military by some section of the media in recent times is generating a lot of public concern and debate, not only within the military but equally in various parts and sectors of the polity
“The ability of some social media influencers to deliberately spread hoax or distorted information with the aim of intentionally dis-informing, misinforming and misleading members of the public on the activities of the military thereby causing palpable fear and anxiety to promote other sinister motives has become a potential threat to our national security and a menace to the global information space.”
He emphasized the critical role of Information managers in galvanizing support for the Armed Forces in tackling the contemporary security challenges confronting the nation, as well as the place of public support and understanding.
“Let me use this opportunity to commend the media, bloggers and online publishers for their timely reportage of the successes and achievements of the military in its operations. Nevertheless, the burning issue of inaccurate reportage of events, that more often than not, degenerate to sheer fabrication of fake news has reached an alarming rate and therefore, calls for candid attention by all for the sake of national security, peace, unity and development of our dear nation,” stated Nwachukwu.
The Acting Commandant, NASPRI Lieutenant Colonel Adamu Ngulde said it has become paramount to always collaborate with the media for a successful military operation in order to promote the right narratives and messaging.
According to the NASPRI Commandant, there is the need to woo public support through winning the hearts and minds of the populace, for the success of operations, as the Nigerian Army and other security agencies in internal security operations are exposed to operational challenges arising from the day to day process of carrying out their duty.
He said the resources persons and discussants were carefully selected based on their wealth of knowledge and experience.
“The relationship between the military, security agencies, civil society organizations and media should be nurtured and maintained at all times in order to meet every operational objective.”
The 5 days workshop with the theme: “Leveraging Digital/Social Media Influence for Effective Military Operations Within a Joint Environment,” brought together Public Relations Officers of the Nigerian Army, Commanding Officers, Defence Correspondents, Media Stakeholders, as well as online publishers and PROs of various security agencies and Para-military organizations to deliberate and brainstorm on the dynamics of the digital media space in an evolving technology.
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