Conference charges military, journalists to unite for national security

Security agencies and Nigerian journalists have been charged to unite their respective arms and pen as a reliable arsenal to fight insecurity and insurgency in Nigeria.

The call was made at the end of a three-day conference that brought together media practitioners and soldiers, Airmen and Naval personnel to interrogate the nuances that cause conflict with national unity and security as they carry out their respective mandates.

This charge was the submissions of the aggregate view of participants at the conference organized by Zakclair Investments Ltd. in collaboration with the Defence Headquarters on Enhancing Military – Journalist Cooperation to Checking Insecurity,” in Nigeria as contained in the communique of the conference.

The conference was to foster continued military and journalists engagement with a view to ensure national security in the management of information to ultimately secure a safer Nigeria.

The communique which gave this charge, further tasked journalists to be responsible while reporting issues of national security in its recommendations while it charged military personnel to cooperative on timeous relay of information to counter negative narratives that may advance terrorists or insurgency agenda

It reads in part: ” The Nigerian Journalist needs to, at all times, exercise a high sense of responsibility and patriotism in the reportage of conflict and operational activities of the military.

It continued that: “The Nigerian military should cooperate and provide all necessary information to journalists in matters of national interest, without prejudice to force protection, operational security, and national security.

“The military should see journalists as partners in the fight against insurgency and terrorism in the country, and endeavour to accord them the requisite respect.

The communique urged that “given the spontaneous and pervading nature of news and daily occurrence of happenings in our global village, the military should be proactive not reactive in giving out timely information to assist journalists disseminate accurate and balanced reportage of crisis in Nigeria.”

Challenging Journalists to undertake the task of national harmony, the communique said: “Journalists should cover issues of insurgency and terrorism as matters of national interest and frame their stories in ways that will assist the efforts to curb the menace.

The conference “Journalists should not be afraid to be embedded with the military in their operations in order to get first hand reports of the situation.

The conference pointed out that when journalists share trenches with soldiers while embedded for some of its missions, could expose journalists to the reality of the battle for national cohesion and unity.

It said: “Journalists should also recognise that embedding with the military comes with heavy responsibility for military personnel and as such, must respect rules and instructions given while on the assignment.

“Journalists should be courageous to engage in investigative journalism. It is quite unfortunate that this genre of journalism is fast disappearing in the country.

“Standard Operational Procedures (SOP) should be developed for journalists in reporting operational activities of the Nigerian military.

“The military establishment should create avenues for frequent interaction with journalists; continuous training of military personnel in the art of strategic communication is needed.

“Adequate attention needs to be paid to social media and timely intervention should be made to counteract fake news regarding terrorism and insurgency in the country.

“The military and journalists should dominate the media space with convincing narratives about the on going war against terrorists and criminal elements threatening the peace and tranquility of the good people of Nigeria.” The communique ended.

Members of Communique Drafting Committee which also signed the document are: Maupe Ogun-Yusuf -Chairman Amos Dunia – Secretary, wile other members have Brig Gen (Retd) Friday Olokpor. Navy Cmdr. M. Wabi and Group Captain E.I. Ihuoma.

Members were each awarded certificate of participation.