Media Must Reflect FG's New Resolve to Tackle

 
The Nigerian media have been charged to focus on the successes recorded by the Federal government in its renewed war on Boko Haram. Spokesman of APC, Alhaji  Lai Mohammed stated this while receiving an Award of Fellow of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Abuja.

"I want to use this important platform provided by the NUJ - a professional media organisation aiming to connect journalists nationwide with the information and opportunities they need to advance professionally and improve media in Nigeria - to appeal to the media to reflect, in their reporting, the seriousness with which the new Administration is approaching the Boko Haram insurgency, Mohammed said.

He said it was "Not just enough for the media to daily chronicle the attacks and the death tolls therefrom, they must also contextualise such reporting. In other words, whereas there appears to have been a spike in Boko Haram attacks in recent times, what is indeed happening is that the terrorists have been forced to change tactics, because they have been weakened and put on the run."

According to him, the media shaped public opinion, and that public opinion was vital to policy making and execution.

He said, "It is in this light that I am appealing to the Nigerian media, in carrying out their basic functions of providing news and information, entertainment and education, to be more circumspect.

"Nigeria's war against terror is no longer business as usual, and this must reflect in the daily reporting of the events in the North-east, which is at the epicentre of terrorism."

He said, "Far from the daily screaming and scary headlines of mass killing and bloodshed that may inadvertently raise the morale of the terrorists arrayed against the Nigerian nation, the Boko Haram is weakened and is on the run. Let us endeavour to reflect this fact in our reporting."

Lone wolf suicide bombings and the choice of soft targets by retreating Boko Haram members, he explained were now the order of the day, "As against the terrorists' previous coordinated actions of seizing and holding territories. Today, not a single local government in Nigeria is under the control of Boko Haram, unlike in the recent past when they held a huge swath of territory, installed their own emirs and even collected taxes."

The achievement, he said was "As a result of the more methodical and focused approach of the present Administration to the anti-terror fight, which includes the tightening of security at border locations that has made it difficult for the terrorists to maneuver. This approach is a far cry from the previous haphazard activities."

He said the government had also put in place the necessary structures for the effective coordination of the battle against the terrorists both within and outside the country, thanks to the regional rallying efforts of the Buhari Administration.
Vital international input and support, he said have become more real and was adding value to the counter-terrorism campaign.

"To cap these efforts, the Nigeria-led, Chad-based Multi-National Joint Task Force will be deployed by the end of this month. it is therefore a matter of time for Boko Haram to be defeated. This monster cannot and will not survive."
He thanked the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) for this great honour of bestowing me with the Award of the Fellow of NUJ.

The message conveying the Award to him, he said, inter alia ''This recognition is because of your contributions to the profession of Journalism and its advancement.''

Mohammed, who credited the contributions he made to the media, dedicated the award "to the Nigerian Media for their role not only in strengthening our democracy but also in the recent historic and successful transition from a ruling party to the opposition."