From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
Chief of Army Staff, Faruk Yahaya, yesterday, appealed to media houses, social media influencers and bloggers to refrain from headlines and reportage which tend to undermine efforts of the military in fighting insurgency and general insecurity.
He said such acts boost the morale of insurgents to commit more crimes.
Yahaya, represented by the Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Markus Kangye, made the appeal in Benin during the 22nd edition of the Social Media Seminar which theme was: “The Nigerian Army’s Non-Kinetic Lines of Operation: Critical Roles of the Social Media.”
The programme is aimed at strengthening the Nigerian Army’s civil-military cooperation and curbing the menace of fake news syndrome.
Yahaya said the social media seminar is one of the several ways the military seeks to interact with the civil populace to foster civil-military cooperation and to rub minds and find ways to curb the social menace of insecurity as we all have roles to play in the promotion of peace and security in the nation.
“What we say and the way we say it and how it is spread on the social media has a far-reaching implications on the country’s security environment. Social media plays a crucial role in promoting peace and shaping public opinions,” he said.
He said in a bid to foster civil-military cooperation, the military in 2010 established the department of civil military affairs which has carried out a lot of skills acquisition programmes as part of its corporate social responsibility aimed at winning the hearts and minds as well as bridging perceived gaps between the Nigeria Army and the civil populace.
“In the last five years, the military has carried out more than 1,000 impact related civil-military projects across the country aimed at bridging the gap between the military and the civil populace while also projecting the image of the military,” he said.
Kelvin Aligbe advised the media to be guided by the principles of social responsibility, noting that disparaging remarks and statements about the military in social media is unpatriotic.
“Patriotism must be strengthened by inculcating the right values in the citizens right from the cradle, because inculcating the right values will increase patriotism which has a multiplier effects that would go a long way to mitigate incidences of insurgency and terrorism,” he said.
On when terrorism would end in the country, he said it was difficult to determine when insurgency will come to an end in a country, stressing that “nobody can put a terminal date on insurgency but at a point there are bound to be reversal of trajectory of narratives as already seen by the mass surrendering of Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria.”
Speaking on the theme: “Leveraging the Social Media as a Non-Kinetic Tool in Joint Operations Environment Imperative of Civil- Military Cooperation, Folusho Oyinlola, said before a journalist publishes his or her story, the person should ask the vital question, “who does this story benefit? Is it the individual, the terrorists or the state or who does the story injures at the end of the day?”
He, therefore, advised that responsible headlines should be adopted in such a way as not to glorify the insurgents.