At the 33rd Edition of the Nigerian Army Social Media Seminar captioned “ENHANCING NATIONAL SECURITY THROUGH THE RESPONSIBLE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA”, which was held at GIA EVENT CENTER No 5 Aba-Owerri Road, Aba, -the commercial hub of South East, Nigeria. The Nigerian Army admonished media practitioners to be mindful of the news they circulate to the world.
The August meeting was declared open by the Chief of Civil Military Affairs, Army Headquarters, Abuja, ably represented by Major-General H.T. Dada, the General Officer Commanding 82 Division of Nigerian Army, Enugu, Nigeria.
In his remarks, he stated that the Nigerian Army in the course of carrying out her constitutional responsibilities, has identified the powers of Social Media and Influencers in realizing her goal of having a peaceful and secured country, and hence, the need for such seminar.
General Dada emphasized on the dire need of using Social Media appropriately to curtail the dissemination of fake news instead of using it to create havoc among the populace.
The GOC pointed out that if social Media were used well, it would support the Army towards achieving her statutory function of protecting the nation against external aggression as well as securing lives and property in the country.
He highlighted that the seminar was necessitated by the desire of Nigerian Army to interface with the civil society as to keep them abreast of the Army activities in the nation for the social Media Influencers to assist clear the misconception among the populace that Army activities may be harmful to them.
The 82 Div Army Chief stressed that it was of paramount importance to Nigerian Army to have a harmonious relationship with the civil society and that such thought gave birth to the establishment of Military Civil Affairs in 2010.
Apart from Military hierarchies from diverse Army formations, the CO of Nigerian Navy school of Finance and Logistics, Owerrinta was in attendance. Others present were the heads of various security agencies and the paramilitary establishment.
The veteran actor, Osita Iheme (Paw Paw ) was also present at seminar. The resources persons were Dr Ehiz Odigie and Professor J.U. Ogbonna who in their keynote addresses established that Social Media was a powerful tool for information dissemination and therefore, charged the influencers to be mindful of what they would send out to the world.
The academic pundits identified a number of factors responsible for the Social Media Influencers embarking on disseminating fake news such as quest to make waves in the media, material gains, among others.
The intelligentsias stressed that authenticity of news needed to be ascertained before publicizing. They pointed out that there were relevant laws prohibiting fake news. And that offenders certainly would not go unpunished.
The renowned actor, Osita Iheme lent his voice in the same direction with Dr Ehiz Odigie and Professor J. U. Ogbonna in respect of the effectiveness of Social Media, the activities of the influencers and need to tread with caution.
Professor Uwaoma Uche – the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State buttressed the the point given by the other resource persons with empirical facts.
The Seminar lasted for over 6 hours and was rounded off with questions and answers section, which afforded the attendees opportunity to freely asked questions regarding the subject of the seminar.
Consequently, Certificate of Participation was issued to all the attendees at the end of the program.
Deacon Justice Alozie – Reporting from Aba.
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