As the Christmas and New Year seasons approach, the Nigerian Army has
urged citizens to be extra vigilant and security conscious in tackling
insecurity in the country.
The Director of the Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, made the call at
the Inaugural Annual Lecture of Class 1992 Alumni of Mass Communication
Department of Bayero University Kano, BUK, at the weekend.
Mr. Usman, a Colonel, who is also an old student of the department,
delivered a paper on “Crisis Communication for security Consciousness- A
Case Study of Nigeria.”
Mr. Usman, who insisted that Nigerian military and intelligence
operatives are virtually in every local government council in the
country, 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, emphasising 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 organisers of the lecture for being the first of its
kind on Crisis Communication to be organised by Alumni of that
department, he observed that Bayero University is recognized as Crisis-
free and cult-free university in Nigeria
In his remarks at the occasion, the Head of Department of Mass
Communication, Bayero University Kano, 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.
Mr. Maikaba said “The new Faculty of Communication and Media Studies has
three Departments of Journalism, Marketing Communication and Visual Art
with an ultramodern studio for media production.
“With over 15 lecturers holding Phds including Professors in the faculty,
we offers various programmes and courses on Communication studies, public
relations, crisis communication, TV and Radio Production among others,”
he concluded.
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