| ABUJA – The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has advised the Nigerian media against the publication of what it called “unverified information’’ about the schoolgirls abducted in Chibok and other national security issues.
Mr Mike Omeri, Director-General of the agency, gave the advice on Friday in Abuja at a joint news briefing on the setting up of an Information Centre on rescue operations.
Rescue operations for the abducted girls of Government Secondary School at Chibok in Borno have heightened in recent days.
The briefing was attended by Maj.-Gen. Chris Olukolade, the Defence spokesperson, Frank Mba, the Force Public Relations Officer, and Marylin Ogar, the State Security Service (SSS) spokesperson.
Omeri, who is also Chairman of the Information Centre, urged the media to disregard rumour emanating from social media and utilise the ethics of their profession in getting the facts.
“Developments about abduction issues, which are incorrect and untruthful information, are being put out, especially on the social media. We appeal to the media not to put out unverified information.”
He said the collaborative effort with other security agencies, as directed by President Goodluck Jonathan, was to ensure that correct and up-to-date information was given to the world.
Omeri, who also appealed to members of the Boko Haram group to release the abducted girls, said the Information Centre would be open to members of the public.
“This Information Centre on the abducted girls and other security issues will be kept open. There will be periodic and timely information as regards progress made,” he said.
Speaking also, Ogar said the issue of terrorism needed concerted efforts for it to be tackled, adding that terrorism has no boundaries.
She said the security agencies had given out security telephone numbers to the public, and that response had been very encouraging.
“Nigerians have done very well. They are using the numbers,” Ogar said.
She called on the media to shy away from information which could help terrorists.
Ogar said the Al-Qaida group recently said most of the information on the country where they carry out operations were picked from the media.
Also, Olukolade said most of the pictures on social media were recycled for mischievous purposes, such as the one of an incident in the Central Africa Republic being circulated around.
“One major tool of terrorists is to create fear and that is the tendency peculiar to them. They want the citizenry to lose confidence in the state,” the Defence spokesperson said.
He said border locations had been placed on standby to operate at their optimum.
Olukolade also said the multinational Joint Task Force (JTF) was paying close attention to monitoring the possible movement of the girls.
“Two surveillance equipment have been acquired with more sophistication than the ones already on ground,” he said.
The collaboration is in compliance with President Jonathan’s directive that the NOA should take charge of activities of the Presidential Task Force on Public Awareness and Mobilisation.
This is to ensure a significant improvement in the quality of communication between the security forces and the public on security issues.(NAN) |
