Social Media War, Nigerian Army Trains Personnel

As part of its efforts to fully protect the Nigeria territorial domain, both land, Air, Water and Cyberspace, Nigerian Army authority has trained numbers of army personnel to combat the negative use of social media in Nigeria.

Nigerian Army Public Relations Director, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu in a news release yesterday said in a bid to enhance the perspective of personnel on the effective and positive use of the Social Media, the Directorate of Army Public Relations took its advocacy on social media to Sokoto 8 Division Area of Responsibility, with the theme “Emergence of Citizens Journalism: Enhancing National Security and Cohesion through Responsible Media Reportage by Nigerian Army Personnel” and was held at Lieutenant General TY Buratai Auditorium, Headquarters 8 Division Giginya Barracks Sokoto on Thursday 20 January, 2022.

The General Officer Commanding 8 Division, Major General Uwem Bassey represented by Brigadier General Aminu Abdullahi declared the training open and charged the participants to internalize lessons learnt in the workshop and effectively use the social media to promote the image and reputation of the Nigerian Army.

He urged participants to use the social media responsibly without jeopardizing their personal and operational security.

He further charged all to collectively mitigate the challenges associated with negative use of the social media, which he said has huge implications on operational engagements and national security. He lauded the Directorate of Army Public Relations for seizing the initiative to embark on the advocacy drive to raise the level of awareness of the personnel.

Earlier, Brigadier General Onyema Nwachukwu stated that the workshop was organized to basically upscale the understanding of personnel of the Nigerian Army on the use of the social media. Adding, it is necessary to effectively employ the social media as a force multiplier for ongoing military operations to positively change the narrative in support of the Nigerian Army and its operations.

The workshop had two lectures delivered by Brigadier General Bobby Ugiagbe and Jibrin Baba Ndace, both of who pointed out in their respective presentation, that the Social Media is a two edged sword with the potential for both positive and negative usage that could positively or negatively impact on the image of the Nigerian Army.