Chibok Girls: Nigerian military streamlines information dissemination
Adetokunbo Fakeye
Defence Headquarters, DHQ, has announced that it has streamlined the dissemination of information on the abducted schoolgirls in Chibok, Borno State and henceforth the progress report would be handled by Borno government.
Director of Defence Information, Chris Olukolade, disclosed this in Abuja while briefing journalists.
According to Major General Olukolade, in view of the need to provide daily update on the search of the abducted girls, the DHQ had directed that henceforth, progress reports be handled by Borno government.
He added that the security forces on ground in the state had been directed to coordinate with the state government and provide them with necessary information on the search for the girls.
DHQ noted, “accordingly, security agencies on ground in Borno will continue to interact and support the state government officials in their efforts to inform the public on the Chibok incident and progress in the search without any prejudice.
“The Nigerian Armed Forces understand and appreciate the concerns being shown by all citizens in and out of the country on the unfortunate incident of abduction of the female students.
“Alongside the search for the girls, the military is currently committed to various security operations in most parts of northern Nigeria.
“Troops have been deployed in forests and mountains combating terrorists and armed gangs of various descriptions,” he said.
General Olukolade reaffirmed the military’s unflinching resolve to continue to discharge its responsibility of defending the territorial integrity and people of Nigeria in the most professional manner.
According to him, the resolve will also apply in the search for the missing girls which is ongoing concurrently along with other security operations nationwide.
He revealed that a lot of information had been received in the efforts to secure the freedom of the girls.
“Unfortunately, however, most of the information, some of which mischievously publicised for sensational reasons, have turned out to be spurious and of no operational use.
“Disturbingly, some of them have been mischievously sensationalised and publicised with a view to heightening tension and inflicting more pain on the nation as envisaged by the terrorists.
“Nevertheless, the forces will remain disposed to receiving, analysing and applying all relevant information on this issue.”
The defence spokesman who submitted that the military would not relent in its efforts to search for the students explained that the armed forces were mindful of the fact that some of the information might be outdated.
He however said that, the Commissioner for Education in Borno, who had been issuing regular updates on the incident, was enjoined to continue in order to satisfy the necessity for information flow.
“The Borno State Government, in whose facility the incident occurred, is appropriately placed to continue with regular briefing as the Commissioner for Education has been doing.
“This is in line with best practice in other climes; more so as all agencies of every tier of government are expected to continue to function in the state.
“The Nigerian military always subscribe to the importance of information flow to the public and will continue to sustain this policy in all its internal security operations.’’ DHQ submitted.