A Communique on
A Communique on Media-Military Relationship
COMMUNIQUÉ ISSUED AT THE END OF A-TWO DAY CONFERENCE ON
ENHANCING MEDIA-MILITARY RELATIONSHIP FOR EFFECTIVE FIGHT AGAINST
TERRORISM AND INSURGENCY IN NIGERIA, HELD FROM JANUARY 24 -25,
2019, AT THE NIGERIAN ARMY RESOURCE CENTRE, ASOKORO-ABUJA, FEDERAL
CAPITAL TERRITORY
PREAMBLE:
The Nigerian Army, in collaboration with the Nigerian Guild of
Editors (NGE), Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Nigerian
Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Guild of Corporate Online
Publishers (GOCOP) and Guild of Professional Bloggers of Nigeria
(GPBN), organized a two-day Conference on the theme: “Enhancing
Media-Military Relationship for Effective Fight Against Terrorism
and Insurgency in Nigeria”
Chairman of the occasion was Chief Olusegun Osoba, the former
governor of Ogun State who was represented by Professor Umaru Pate
of Bayero University Kano. Participants at the conference include
Lieutenant General Tukur Yusuf Buratai (Chief of Army Staff and
Chief Host); The Special Guest of Honour was Alhaji Lai Mohammed
(Minister of Information and Culture who was represented by the
Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Deaconess Grace Isu Gekpe);
Principal Officers of the Army; Mrs Funke Egbemode (President,
NGE); Chris Isiguzo (President, NUJ); Muhktar Sirajo (President,
NIPR); Dotun Oladipo (President, GOCOP) and Chris Kehinde Nwandu
(President, GPBN). Other participants were: the President of
Journalists and Writers Foundation, New York and top members of
Nigerian Academia, Media and notable Commanders of the Nigerian
Army war against terrorism.
Professor Tonnie Iredia, former Director General of the Nigerian
Television Authority delivered the keynote address. Thereafter,
five other papers on different aspects of the theme were presented
and discussed at the conference.
The conference recognized that the Nigerian Army and Media have
complementary constitutional roles that bother on national
security, information management, peace, and safety of Nigerians.
Therefore, the conference deliberated on how to achieve and sustain
constructive, sustainable and effective interface between the two
institutions in the discharge of their specific constitutional
mandates, particularly with respect to the ongoing fight against
terrorism and insurgency in Nigeria. The conference commended the
Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General TY Buratai for this
laudable initiative. It also noted with satisfaction the high
turnout, diverse representations and fruitful deliberations at the
conference.
OBSERVATIONS:
At the end of the highly interactive sessions, the conference
observed as follows:
1. The fight against terrorism and insurgency is relatively new
to both the military and media, resulting in occasional strains in
the relationship between the two in the course of work.
2. The Media and military have been collaborating in the fight
against terrorism and insurgency, however, there is no consensus on
the challenges and expectations placed on each other.
3. The perceived posture of the military as the sole defender of
national security often isolates the media and the attitude of some
of the media, breeds mutual suspicion and weakens the needed
collaboration between the military and the Nigerian media.
4. Improper handling of strategic information could amplify
activities of terrorists and insurgents, spread fear in the
citizens, jeopardize military plans, and dampen troops’ morale,
thus, inadvertently guarantee additional financing and recruitment
base for the insurgents.
5. Publication of unverified information on social media or the
conventional mass media may constitute threats to national security
and unintentionally promote terrorist propaganda, reveal military
strategies, and jeopardize the safety of military personnel.
6. Freedom of expression has constitutional limits when it poses
clear threats to national security.
7. Media reportage shapes perception about Nigeria and Nigerians
internationally. Therefore, caution is required, considering the
implications of such reports.
8. The military – media relations should not be seen along the
line of material or financial inducements.
9. There is the need to know and understand that the media,
military and indeed all Nigerians are under threats from the
terrorists and their activities.
10. Poor training and remuneration of journalists, increasing
operational and technical challenges faced by most Nigerian media
organizations impinge upon professional ethics and credible
reportage.
11. In reporting terrorists’ activities, political and security
sector players often disturbingly see some media organizations as
apologists of the terrorists.
12. Some media owners, knowingly or unknowingly, influence news
reportage of insurgency to push political or economic interests at
the expense of national security.
13. The National Orientation Agency (NOA), is not fully involved
in managing the perception of the populace regarding the ongoing
war on terrorism and insurgency.
14. Social media serves as hotbed of fake news in Nigeria.
15. The number of credible online media content creators is low
on the Nigerian social media space.
16. The indiscriminate posting of videos online by people
purported to be in the employment of the Army has undermined the
successes of the war on terrorism and insurgency in Nigeria.
17. A large percentage of the Nigerian youths rely on
information from online sources.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Accordingly, the conference recommends as follows:
1. There should be regular information sharing and capacity
building programmes like conferences and workshops between the top
echelon of the Army, Media and strategic communications managers in
order to enhance harmonious military-media relations in
Nigeria.
2. The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) should work
with other institutions to expand avenues for sustainable
engagement, peer-review and consensus building with regards to
their respective responsibilities towards ultimate success of the
war against insurgency.
3. The practice of embedding journalists by the Chief of Army
Staff since 2015 should be strengthened to promote better
appreciation of the challenges and successes of the Army. However,
embedded journalists should be allowed to independently gather
information without perceived interference as that could breed
suspicion.
4. Journalists should be professionally trained and continuously
retrained for them to sufficiently understand the dynamic
connections between media reporting and national security. This
will keep them equipped on best practices on context sensitivity in
reporting war against terrorism and insurgency.
5. The military should encourage communication between military
and media chiefs/editors under the Chatham House rules.
6. National security supersedes all interests; however, its
protection should be the shared responsibility of the military and
media professionals, since terrorists are common enemies of the
Nigerian State.
7. Strategic handling of reports of activities of terrorists and
insurgents will decrease fear in the populace and weaken the
recruitment and financing base of the criminals.
8. As an enterprise, the media should develop new and
sustainable financing models in order to effectively discharge its
constitutional responsibilities in the face of rising business
challenges.
9. The war against terrorism, insurgency and violent crimes
should always be appropriately framed as a war between Nigeria and
the criminals which affects every fabric of our society and not a
detached war between the Nigerian Army and Boko Haram terrorists
group.
10. Nigerian government and the Army should set aside funds to
drive special joint military-media counter insurgency and strategic
communications activities.
11. The Military should appreciate and support journalists to
fulfill their constitutional mandates of informing the citizenry as
well as respect journalists’ professionalism including the right to
protect the confidentiality of their sources of information.
12. Media professionals need to improve public understanding
that the Nigerian State is at war and that both the Nigerian
military and media are focused on playing their crucial roles to
win the war against terrorism.
13. The National Orientation Agency should be further empowered
to aggressively re-orientate Nigerians and sensitize critical
institutions on their respective roles in the war against
terrorism.
14. In order to close any perceived information gap and mitigate
the spread of fake news, stakeholders should crosscheck, fact-check
and evaluate information received before publishing in order to
avoid dis-information and misinformation.
15. The Nigerian Army should provide timely and accurate
information in accessible locations including online sites for
cross referencing of information on their activities related to the
war by the media and other interested stakeholders.
16. The Nigerian Army should continue to educate its soldiers on
the implications of resorting to unauthorized uploading of images
and videos from the frontline.
17. Social media influencers and citizen journalists are
strategic partners that the military can embed in their routine
process of intelligence gathering and information sharing.
18. The Nigerian Army has been professional and is apolitical, a
fact that has always been emphasized by the Chief of Army Staff
Lieutenant General TY Buratai. There is the need, therefore, for
media professionals to always ensure they do not allow grudges
against civil authorities to translate to bad press for the
military.
Prof Emmanuel S. Dandaura
Chairman, Communiqué Drafting Committee
Major Olaniyi Osoba
Secretary
Members: (signed)
Amaka Agbo
Hajiya Sani