Yuletide Season: Military urges extra vigilance and Security Consciousness

Yuletide Season: Military urges extra vigilance and Security Consciousness

Barely two days after the Department of State Security (DSS) alerted Nigerians of plots by the Boko Haram terrorists group to carry out soft targets attacks and bombings in Market places and religious Centers, the Nigerian Army has urged citizens to be extra vigilant and security conscious in tackling insecurity in the country as the Xmas and New Year seasons approach.

Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman made the call weekend, at Inaugural Annual Lecture of Class 1992 Alumni of Mass Communication Department of Bayero University Kano (BUK).

He made the disclosure while delivering a paper on ‘Crisis Communication and Security Consciousness-A Case Study of Nigeria’ at the occasion. Colonel Usman is also an old student of the Department.

Insisting that Nigerian military and intelligence operatives are virtually in every local government council in the country trying to pre-empt the dastardly plots of enemies, Usman said that the citizens should not only rely on security for protection but should be security conscious and provide useful information to relevant security agencies.

He said: “With the kind of intelligence we receive regularly from the military and security operatives, the citizens need to be proactive and security conscious while the media intensify campaign on same.

“Internal security challenge is not a problem unique to Nigeria. The US, UK, France and many other countries, face similar challenges within their borders on daily basis.

“The difference between these countries and ours is the management of threats by the government and the citizenry; how knowledgeable they are, how patriotic and united their citizens are against threats of insecurity and crisis.

“The countries are never divided on political, ethical, religion or professional ground when the interest of the nation is the subject. These cushion the effects of these crises on their national security and image.

“The fact therefore is that if Nigerians hope to build a nation of good brand, they have to work for it. It is at a time like this that all patriots must rise to the occasion and place the interest of the country above every other consideration.

“The media need to mobilize people during crisis as a cardinal element of national security effort.
They have a duty to enlighten the public on the true situation in national war effort to guarantee national security. The report must focus on national unifying factors, emphasizing the desired end state of the Armed Forces, which is to safeguard public good.

“In the on-going war on terror for example, the media must focus on atrocities of Boko Haram Terrorists (BHT), the monumental humanitarian crisis and promote efforts of the Nigerian Army and other security agencies in bringing the carnage to an end. This outweighs narrow compulsions of local and international media houses and individual reporters.”

While commending the organizers of the lecture for being the first of its on Crisis Communication to be organized by Alumni of that department, he observed that Bayero University is recognized as Crisis-free and cult-free university in Nigeria

Earlier, the Head of Department of Mass Communication Bayero University Kano (BUK), Dr. Balarabe Maikaba who commended the Class 1992 Alumni for initiating the Annual Lecture on Crisis Communication, said that the Department has been upgraded to a full-fledged faculty with a new complex for media production.

He said “The new Faculty of Communication and Media Studies have three Departments of Journalism, Marketing Communication and Visual Art with an ultramodern studio for media production.

“With over 15 lecturers holding Ph.Ds. including Professors in the faculty, we offer various programmes and courses on Communication studies, public relations, crisis communication, TV and Radio Production among others,” he noted.

END.