The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has held a three-day workshop in Maiduguri on Enhancing Media and CSOs’ Capacity for Non-Kinetic Approaches to Fighting Insurgency in Nigeria’s North East Zone
The capacity building imparted in the participants how they could contribute to non-military ways of curbing insurgency.
Three professors and a veteran broadcaster were on hand as resource persons for the workshop which attracted 100 journalists and civil society practitioners from the host Borno State as well as from the states of Yobe, Gombe, Bauchi, Taraba and Adamawa.
The workshop which started on Monday, December 16, ended Wednesday evening.
The NEDC Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Alhaji Mohammed Alkali who declared the workshop closed through the commission’s Head of Resettlement and Early Recovery, Mohammed Sani Umar, said the commission considered the workshop necessary to boost the capacity of journalists and CSO leaders who hold immense power in amplifying voices and bridging understanding.
He added that the workshop was designed to equip participants with tools, strategies and ethical insights to address the unique challenges of reporting in conflict-affected areas.
The NEDC MD stressed the importance of non-Kinetic approaches as it focuses on fighting insurgency by addressing its root causes and fostering community resilience and promoting stability.
Veteran broadcaster, Dr Muhammad Kudu Abubakar who is the chief executive of Ranlal Global Services Ltd, the firm which partnered the NEDC to organize the capacity building workshop, praised the NEDC for its dedication to fostering non-violent solutions to insurgency.
Muhammad Kudu said the Maiduguri training would empower journalists and CSO representatives to champion such solutions.
Renown Mass Communication Professor, Umaru Pate who was one of the resource persons in the course of the three-day intensive interactive conference, charged journalists to be investigative and always tell stories that are evidence-based and which show not only how things happen but also suggest possible remedies.
Pate who is the vice chancellor of the Federal University Kashere, said the devastation of Borno and much of Yobe and Adamawa State as a result of insurgency is immense and journalists are required to tell the rest of the world of the huge rebuilding gaps despite the efforts of the NEDC and other authorities.
Professor Nathaniel Danjibo of the University of Ibadan who also presented papers during the training on the Non-Kinetic approaches to countering insurgency, made the point that in many cases, negligence or absence of government creates what is called ungoverned spaces and encourages infestation of insurgents who take over the legitimate authority in such spaces.
“Government needs to wake up and make its presence felt everywhere and give no room for insurgency to take root,” Danjibo told the media and CSO practitioners at the conference.
Professor Muazu Abubakar of the University of Maiduguri who also presented researched papers, urged journalists to always be guided by the ideals of national interest and security as they go about doing their work.
Widely travelled broadcaster, Hamisu Rogo of the NTA fame, presented reviews of his television productions, includung one on IDPs Resettlement and Rehabilitation with specific reference to insurgency-devastated Kukawa community in Borno State.
His report shows how thousands of displaced residents returned home recently after some 10 years of displacement by Boko Haram only to find hardly any shelter over their heads.
The report impressed on reporters at the workshop how much more reporting they need to do to call attention to the lingering challenges of insurgency that the people of Borno and other badly hit parts of the North East still contend with.
By Onimisi Alao
