The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor has urged Military spokespersons to adopt more effective and efficient ways of communicating the activities of the Armed Forces, in order to gain the trust and confidence of Nigerians.

The CDS said this yesterday in Abuja, during a one day capacity building workshop for Public Relations and Information Officers in the Armed Forces.

The capacity building workshop, themed, “Proactive Conflict Sensitive Communication and Defence Information: Emerging Issues and Strategies in Media Relations,” was organized by Defence Headquarters (DHQ) in conjunction with The Media Today International.

The CDS, represented by the Chief of Defence Policy and Plans, Air Vice Marshal Dahiru Sanda, stressed the need for Military spokespersons to be more proactive, intentional and goal-oriented in their media engagements. 

He said that when the Military positively dominates the media space, it will help in deterring current and potential adversaries and also mitigate misinformation and disinformation of Military operations, which is usually to the advantage of mischief makers.

He also noted that the workshop was "Part of the deliberate resolve by the current leadership of the Nigerian Armed Forces in ensuring that public relations and information officers are able to meet up with current and future realities of defence information management."

These according to him, include the evolving techniques and strategies in media relations. He commended the Directorate of Defence Information and Services Public Relations and Information Departments for their steadfastness in the management and projection of security information towards galvanizing public support for military operations. 

Speaking earlier, the Deputy Director of Defence Information (DDDI), Air Commodore Wap Maigida in his welcome remarks, said the workshop was tailored towards equipping the participants on rudiments involved in proactive conflict sensitive communication in particular and defence information in general.

He stated that the available media tools, channels and techniques are panacea which the Nigerian military could use to effectively tell its stories to the right audience. He added that the Military in synergy with other security agencies are recording successes in the theatres of operations.

The lead paper, tittled: "Conflict Sensitive Communication" was delivered by Dr. Okey Ikechukwu, former Chairman of Guardian Newspapers. The Chief Executive Officer of PR Nigeria, Alhaji Yushau Shuaib spoke on: "Issue Management and Fact Checking in Media Relations." Mrs Olubukola Akinlade spoke on the Analysis of Media Perception of the Armed Forces of Nigeria. 

Mr Philemon Adjekuko spoke on the Media, Defence, Information and Human Right Report, while Barrister Charles Odenigbo lectured on Measuring the Effectiveness of Media Relation Tools and Strategies. The sessions were moderated by the Director of Defence Information, Major General Benjamin Sawyerr, Mr Emmanuel Ebhodaghe and Mr Jide Ojo. 

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