The Federal Government is yet to unravel the sponsors of Book Haram activities in the northern part of the country.
This is just as the government and the military have harped on the importance of the media to the success of the war against insurgents in the North-East part of the country.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media, Femi Adesina, while speaking with newsmen on Monday, during a three-day workshop, organised by the Nigerian Army, also expressed the readiness of the Federal Government to tackle the sponsors of Boko Haram.
The presidential spokesperson said “you know this is a government that has the capacity to tackle issues. If it knows the sponsors, you can be sure that it would also address it.”
Adesina also added that “this government is tackling the insurgency. If it knows the sponsors, they would be treated as Boko Haram.”
The presidential spokesperson, while delivering a paper entitled: “The challenge and expectation of the media in military operations”, emphasised the importance of a cordial relationship between the media and the military.
The Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen TY Buratai, who was represented at the occasion, also emphasised the importance of the media to military operations.
He also stated that the effective use of the media has contributed to the successes recorded by the military in the operations in the north eastern part of the country.
Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Buratai also on Monday, said that the army was re-strategising to track and eliminate the remaining Boko Haram elements from the battlefield.
Buratai said this while speaking with journalists at the media workshop, organised by the Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information (NASPRI), at 81 Division Officers’ Mess, Lagos.
Buratai, who was represented by the Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Maj.-Gen. Peter Boje, assured that the elements would finally be eliminated finally from the battlefield in no time.
Buratai, who was also the special guest of honour and speaker, delivered a lecture entitled, ‘’The utilisation of new generation warfare tactics: gains and successes in the North-East operations.”
“We are degrading their activities. Most of the areas that were initially occupied by the insurgents have been captured and a lot of them have dispersed.
“But again, there are elements of this Boko Haram that are scattered all over the North- East and if you know their characteristics, you will know they operate in small cells.
“So, they come out and carry out small attacks and disappear. We are making efforts to re-strategise, track and finally eliminate them from the battlefield,” he said.
He expressed delight that the military and the media had excellent working relationship, adding that the military at all times would continue to collaborate and exchange information with the media, as required.
“We have been very open with the media. We do not make any negative statement about the Nigerian media and the media are doing very well to the best of my knowledge.’’
Buratai, whose lecture talked about the concept of new generation warfare, challenges and way forward, identified information, psychological and cyber operation as some of the new generation warfare tactics.
He said that the way forward was for every Nigerian to cooperate with the military in providing it with timely information on suspicious activities of individuals or groups in his or her community or locality.
Mr Femi Adeshina, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, urged the military to ensure constant training and retraining of journalists aimed at ensuring better reportage of the military.
On the released Chibok girls, Adeshina said the girls were being rehabilitated physically and psychologically.
Earlier, Col. Sanni Usman, Acting Director, Army Public Relations, in his welcome address, said the workshop was a platform where the military and journalists would rub minds and exchange ideas.