By Jerry Uwah
Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has commended President Goodluck Jonathan for setting up an ad-hoc disaster and crisis management team to contend with the fallout of the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-eastern part of the country.
Addressing newsmen in Lagos recently, the president of NIPR, Dr. Oluwarotimi Oladele, said the crisis and disaster management system should form part of the nation’s security intelligence system manned by experts, adding that it should be backed up by an enabling law passed by the National Assembly.
The information management team is made up of representatives from the army, police, Department of State Security (DSS), Directorate of Defence Information, National Orientation Agency (NOA) and other stakeholders.
Oladele also suggested that the body should be expanded to include representatives of journalists/editors, independent security experts from the organised private sector and past heads of police and other security agencies in the country.
The NIPR chief said the Boko Haram insurgency had attracted international attention to Nigeria especially since the abduction of more than 200 secondary school girls in Chibok, Borno state.
Speaking on the theme: “Bring back our girls : Media review,” the NIPR boss said the intervention of major players in the international community like the United States of America, Britain, France, Japan, Germany, China and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was a clear indication that terrorism was the concern of every member of the United Nations.
He stressed that the stakeholders were aware of the fact that a united front was required to counter terrorism in the interest of global peace, security and economic development.
Oladele called on every Nigerian to see the Boko Haram insurgency as a challenge that should be confronted frontally to avoid the country slipping into the status of failed states like Somalia.