Maj. Gen Olukolade Tasks Military on Effective Use of New Media
Former Director of Defence Information, Major-Gen. Chris Olukolade (rtd), has urged the Nigerian military and other security agencies to leverage on the social media and multimedia tools to enhance public perception and shape the narratives surrounding their operations.
Gen. Olukolade made the call at the Nigerian Army Cyber Warfare School, Abuja during the ongoing workshop organised by the Directorate of Army Public Relations in conjunction with the Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information.
He urged the agency to address the information gap among the service personnel and get them accountable while on duty and address the issue of inadequate ICT tools in the system.
Olukolade also called for a review and update of the present social media policy as well as increase in the number of personnel training and retraining in ICT.
The programme themed: “Harnessing the Potential of Media for Effective Military Operations within a Joint Environment,” featured a discussion session with the publisher of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential, Mallam Yushau Shuaib, and Professor Cosmos Eze.
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In his presentation, Shuaib discussed extensively the importance of content control and crisis communication management. He categorised the social media into three parts like hyper-textuality, multimediality and interactivity while urging the military personnel to build their multimediality skills for effective operation and efficiency.
Participants during the interactive session commended PRNigeria fact-check team for its investigative prowess and efforts in debunking fake news, propaganda and misinformation.
Professor Eze while responding to a question from one of the participants also stressed the need for effective management of social media tools to change negative narratives about the Force.
The Director, Army public Relations, Brig. Gen. O. Nwachukwu, commended the facilitators and resource persons for their contributions to the robustness of the debate.
In recent years, the Army Public Affairs Unit has been organising training programmes of this nature for its personnel across the country, but this is the first of its kind in Abuja Army School with the aim of training information personnel on how to manage negative reporting and project a positive image for the Force.
The 4-day programme had in attendance Brig. S.K Usman (rtd), Maj. Gen. SM Uba and other serving and retired military and para-military officers.
By PRNigeria
