Army, other security forces strategise against Boko Haram

Participants, rose last week from a strategic communications workshop organised by the National Defence College and concluded that defending the civilian population and maintaining their support remained essential to the success of the Nigerian armed and security forces in their war against the Boko Haram insurgency in the country.

The workshop is first of its kind for the Nigerian security services and stakeholders and part of the National Security Adviser, retired Col. Sambo Dasuki’s new strategy for embracing a new discipline – strategic communications.

According to participants, major challenges facing the military and other security agencies were the inability to effectively communicate with civilians in their areas of operations and the country as a whole. They agreed that the rethink demonstrated a new approach on the part of the Federal Government to win both the war and the peace. Participants acknowledged that there were communication challenges between security agencies and the public over military actions in their communities but noted that with the new approach, the people would see an improvement in trust and collaboration.

According to them, the military does not have a strategic communications plan, hence had not fared well in the public domain despite many successes recorded against Boko Haram.

At the opening of the workshop, the National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Col. Sambo Dasuki said there must be a more comprehensive spectrum of weapons and technologies developed and deployed against terrorism.

Dasuki and other stakeholders were in agreement that the nature of conflict had changed significantly and that protecting Nigerians against terrorists had become the centre of gravity for the military’s mission, along with protecting the country’s democracy, and helping to provide regional security. They observed that for the military, this was an important shift in emphasis.

Part of the message from the deliberations at the weeklong workshop was that the military had a primary duty to defend the lives, rights and properties of Nigerians – Christians and Muslims alike – and that there would be zero tolerance for terrorism.

The NSA had organised two similar workshops within the past 10 months to smoothen whatever ruffles that might be between the two security forces. In attendance at the workshop were the media who were given an insight into what the military plans were for its new approach to effective communications.

Participants were drawn from all the branches of the Nigerian armed forces including the police and their civilian security counterparts from the State Security Service and the office of the NSA.

Overall, more than 160 senior officers from the Nigerian military, as well as representatives of other government agencies, benefitted from the workshop. The media and Diplomatic Corps, bodies closer to the public, were also involved in the deliberations that brought experts from countries that had faced such insurgencies in Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Northern Ireland. The presentations and discussions, led by experienced military and civilian communications experts from the United States of America and the United Kingdom gave Nigerian officers the opportunity to exchange experiences with officers who had faced situations elsewhere in the world that were similar to what Nigeria was experiencing in several states.

The workshop was organised by the National Defence College for the office of the NSA based on its assumption that the nature of conflict had changed significantly, that protecting Nigerians against terrorists had become central to the mission of the military, along with protecting the country’s young and fragile democracy, and helping to provide regional security.

Both the office of the NSA and the National Defence College had been working with the US State Department, UK’s Ministry of Defence and strategic communications specialists, Albany Associates, partnered in Nigeria by Africa Today, the London-based pan-African news magazine, to promote the strategic communications approach.

The partnership delivered intensive training in different communications disciplines deployed by the US and UK in their operations against insurgencies across the world.

A report on the workshop, including various recommendations, would be delivered to the National Security Adviser by the project’s coordinators, Albany Associates (UK).