In furtherance of government’s effort to end insecurity in Nigeria, the National Orientation Agency (NOA), security agencies and other stakeholders will deploy world tested and effective soft-power measures in coordinated non-kinetic response to insecurity.
This was the crux of deliberations at a one-day Conversation on the Recommendations from the National Summit on Non-Kinetic Response to Insecurity, organized by the NOA in Abuja, where stakeholders resolved to work together in complementing kinetic approaches to insecurity in the country with non-kinetic responses.
Director General of NOA, Dr. Garba Abari said the NOA and the Defence Intelligence Agency had in December 2021 initiated a Summit on Non-Kinetic Approaches to Insecurity and Inter-Agency Cooperation which came up with far reaching recommendations that seek to add value to different relevant policy documents. He said the current Conversation was to explore areas of synergy among stakeholders with a view to deploying effective strategies from the recommendations of the earlier Summit.
Representatives of the Service Chiefs, defence and intelligence agencies, the Economic Community of West African States, The European Union, civil society organizations and other stakeholders gathered at the Conversation were unanimous that an all-of-society approach is the most effective approach to curbing insecurity. They also stressed the need for government to fund non-kinetic organs and approaches that would weaken the support base of terrorists and agents of insecurity amongst the populace, including robust funding of NOA.Among the recommendations which stakeholders harped on, is the need for Civil Military Cooperation (CIMIC) to leverage on technology to tackle hate speech, fake news and disinformation often perpetrated by terrorists and their sympathizers as well as confidence building between civilians and the military in theatres of operations. Participants stressed that Non-kinetic approach is about winning hearts and minds, hence the importance for the public to believe in the fight against insecurity.
Participants charged the public not to underestimate the power of mobile phones and social media, adding that they must consciously use these tools to spread information on peace and the successes of our security agencies against insecurity, rather than sharing information that spread fear, most of which are false and deliberate fabrications. They urged the public to always remember that terrorists are also on social media and are behind most of the fear inducing messages they see on those platforms.
