NITDA Boss Hosts NASPRI Commandant, Canvasses Digital Literacy for Security Spokespersons

NITDA Boss Hosts NASPRI Commandant, Canvasses Digital Literacy for Security Spokespersons

The Director-General National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa has charged spokespersons of security agencies on digital literacy towards enhancing their performance for effective information management.

Kashifu made the call when he received the acting commandant of the Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information (NASPRI), Colonel Aliyu Yusuf in his office.

The DG said that advances in information and communications technology (ICT) have transformed societies and reshaped communication processes due to economic, sociological, and cultural implications.

He added that to ensure responsible usage of technology against threats, digital literacy is very essential for online communication efforts.

“Since modern communication requires digital literacy, spokespersons, especially of security services should enhance their skills for effective relationship with the stakeholders and the public because access to information is increasingly through digital technologies.

“There are a wide range of online channels—from website to mobile chat to blogs—to connect with different audiences,” he said.

Early in his remarks, the Commandant of NASPRI, Colonel Aliyu Yusuf said the military PR school was established in 2010 to train military personnel on strategic communication and publicity activities.

He added that the institution has trained over 3000 military personnel that cut across the Army, Navy and the air force.

Colonel Yusuf said that realising the importance of communication technology, which is evolving rapidly and creating new threats, the NASPRI introduced new programmes to cover digital communication and online Public Relations.

He said: “We introduce more training programmes that cover the use of digital and social technologies to manage the awareness, understanding and reputation of military sector through the purposeful influence of exposure to social media.

“We intend to teach our participants Digital PR which is an intersection of traditional public relations, content marketing, SEO, and social media to build an online presence. We believe NITDA will support and partner with us towards improving the facilities we have in our ICT Centre.”

By PRNigeria