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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Abdulrahman Dambazau



Dambazzau attributes y outh violence to hard drugs.

A former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Abdulrahman Dambazau, has attributed the rising wave of violence in the northern part of Nigeria to the free circulation of hard drugs among youths.
He made the observation, while speaking at the peace conference organised by the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in Kaduna.
Dambazau noted that many unemployed youths in the region had been using hard drugs, adding that the aberration had engendered criminal activities, including violent killings and destruction of property at the slightest provocation.
These drugs in circulation facilitate criminal activities in the North. These youths indulge in using marijuana and other hard drugs, which get them out of their senses and push them to engage in violence,’’ he said.
Dambazau blamed the situation on the high rate of youth unemployment, poor education and the poor training, which youths got from homes, schools and communities.
Many of these children, with ages ranging from six to 16 years, end up as security threats to the region and the country at large. The earlier our leaders do something about it, the better for the region,’’ he said.
Dambazau particularly urged governors of the northern states to make efforts to improve the agricultural sector to encourage youths to go into farming and stop them from roaming the streets.
He also appealed to parents, teachers and community leaders to be more proactive in efforts to reverse the negative trends among youths in the North.

Army Director urges journalists to be cautious about security reports.

Director of Information, Nigerian Army, Major-General Raphael Isah has urged Nigerian journalists to be more cautious while handling security reports.
Isah, who made the call at the workshop on media relations organised for military public relations officers, also urged the PR officers to carry journalists along in their work as to forestall inaccurate reportage.
In his keynote address, Isah noted that the military was facing the challenge of sending out the right message, particularly considering the current internal security threats.
``The right message must be sent to the public, the morale of the soldier who stands out ready to pay the supreme price must not be dampened with sensational news,’’ he said
Isah, nonetheless, noted that a good journalist must always promote nation building in his or her reportage, instead of propagating negative news to spite perceived opponents, especially those bordering on security matters.
In his address, Major-General Mohammed Idris, the Commandant of the Nigerian Army Intelligence School, said military information managers ought to be knowledgeable about contemporary media operations.
``The involvement of the Nigerian Army in security operations has placed enormous responsibility on the army public relations officers to maintain excellent civil-military relations,’’ he said
Besides, Idris noted that the recent enactment of the Freedom of Information Act reflected the importance which the Federal Government attached to information and the media.
``The media are indispensable, especially in efforts to maintain a positive image in our peacekeeping operations,'' he added.Col. Rabe Abubakar, the Commandant of the Nigerian Army School of Public Relations and Information (NASPRI), said that the workshop was organised to educate military public relations personnel on how to relate well with the professional media in their assignment.
``The essence is to discourage the media as much as possible from using the grapevine or unconfirmed reports about our operations which, in most cases, are detrimental to our efforts,’’ he said
The participants of the workshop, which has ``Combating Contemporary Security Challenges through Promotion and Sustenance of Military-Media Relations’’ as its theme, were drawn from the Army and the Air Force.

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