By Musa Umar Bologi Abuja
Nigerian Army has condemned “unprofessional use of the social media to disclose classifi ed information” as well as air grievances by its offi cers. Th e Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, expressed the displeasure yesterday when he declared open a 3-day workshop for the Nigerian army offi cers on “Offi ce Management and Document Security.
” From left: Secretary General, Coalition of Civil Society Groups For Transparency and Good Governance, Comrade Ali Abacha, Executive Director, Citizen Advocacy for Social and Economic Rights, Frank Tietie and Vice Chairman, Alliance for Human Rights Lawyers, Lawrence Ojo-Gabriel, during a press briefi ng asking Senate President to swear in Senator Bassey Etim as a Senator representing Akwa Ibom North, in Abuja yesterday Photo: Tidzalla Zacchaeus Represented by Chief of Policy and Plans, Nigerian Army, Maj.- Gen. Chris Jemitola, the army chief said he had already initiated a process that could lead to establishment of a Directorate that would focus “solely” on the management of the social media in Nigerian Army.
He said: “Th e social media has brought additional challenges to information security which are being used by misguided personnel contrary to our service rules.
“Th e Nigerian army has extant policy on the use of the social media which prohibits among others, the use of the social media to discuss or disclose service matters. “It is indeed very unfortunate and unprofessional for service personnel to resort to the social media to disclose classifi ed information or express grievances when the Nigerian army has well established channels for addressing complaints.’’
He said the workshop was intended to draw the offi cers’ attention to the importance of securing service documents in a manner that would not jeopardise army operations and administration. “Th e ultimate objective of this forum is to build your capacity to eff ectively support my vision which is to have a professionally responsive Nigerian army in the discharge of its constitutional roles,” he said.
He added that the workshop targets offi cers because of the important roles they play in handling and management of service documents. According to him, some documents are highly classifi ed that their disclosure could be injurious to national security
