Good morning Gentlemen of the fourth Estate of the realm, I welcome you all to this presentation of the outcome of my deliberations with members of the Civil Society Organisations in a bid to come up with an informed position on what and how to promote Army-civil relationship towards this year's edition of Nigeria Army Day Celebration.
This roundtable discussion was held on Sunday 5th July 2020 and I found the deliberations productive, engaging and above all; borne of out of deep sense of patriotic duty by all present.
I must tell you all that I am immensely grateful to all members of the civil society who made out time to participate in this noble cause, while I am of utmost conviction Nigeria Army and Nigerians will benefit from this selfless effort and as a nation we will better for it.
I will spare you needless verbosity as I present to you the communique from the aforementioned patriotic intellectual discourse.
The Communique at the end of interface between Kabiyesi Olowu Kuta and coalition of civil society organizations on 5th July 2020, with the theme: “ Understanding The Nigerian Security Architecture, Nigerian Army’s Perspective” to celebrate the Nigerian Army Day and proffer solutions to bring about rebranding the army.
His Royal Majesty, Olowu Kuta, Oba Adekunle Oyelude Makama, Tegbosun 3, who convened the meeting declared it opened with an overview of the military and problems bedeviling it. He talks about inadequate personnel, inter agency rivalry, lack of synergy among the security agencies, improved welfare of officers and men and increased budget. At the end of the deliberations, it was resolved that the following points should be adopted as a panacea to rebranding the army:
1. That there should be conscious efforts towards rebranding the army
2. Improved professionalism, that is, the army must be allowed to face its primary assignment of defending the territorial integrity of the country squarely
3. Effective and efficient communication , propaganda should be believable and credible when deployed
4. Confidence building/community relations among the populace so that the civil populace will see the Army as partner in progress and not the ‘aggressor/oppressor’ and an army of occupation
5. Regular interface with the CSOs
6. Increased budgeting
7. Recruitment system should be more open and transparent. It must be on merit as opposed to quota system
8. Engaging the CSOs for perception management
9. There should be synergy among the security agencies
10. Discipline/ Ethics should be adhered strictly to in order to serve as a deterrent to bad eggs or fifth columnist. I thank you for your attention.
0 Comments