A senior officer in the Directorate of Army Public Relations and currently the Deputy Director in charge of Administration at the Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre (NAFRC), Oshodi Lagos, Col. Kingsley Umoh has called on Nigeria’s retired military personnel to close rank and work harmoniously in the interest of one united body instead of creating different associations of retirees which may work at cross purposes in the country.
Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE AND POWER recently on various issues relating to Peace and Conflict Resolution Resource Centre (PEACrCE); a non-governmental organization which he founded to promote peace among all security agencies in Nigeria, Umoh noted that many associations of retired military personnel exist in the country, but with objectives not well defined.
In his words, “I have observed that veterans affairs in Nigeria are yet to be well packaged. Veterans issues are not coordinated. No synergy yet. I know that there are REMENAF, RANAO, Nigerian Legion and so on. I do not understand the reason for their various factions. I am still in service and with my rank, level of exposure, I really do not know what these organizations do specifically, different from each other.”
“This is exactly what I am talking about communication. We do not even know what is happening. I do not know how they draw their membership. So if I, as an information officer do not know all these things, how would the public therefore know? So there are too many gaps and these gaps need to be filled. From today I should be looking forward to playing a role in those veteran circles.”
On how the Peace and Conflict Resolution Resource Centre came into existence, Umoh who holds a Masters degree in Media and Communications from the Pan African University in addition to his years of training at the prestigious Nigerian Defense Academy explained that the Centre began as “an attempt to make my own individual and personal contributions to security communications as I would describe it. I founded a forum that comprises Public Relations Officers of all security agencies both military and para-military. The aim of that forum was to harness the role of public relations officers as being responsible for building, maintaining and nurturing relationships in the midst of all security problems we had.”
“As an information practitioner, I personally identified the problem of information flow as one of the issues we can use to rebuild our security architecture. So I thought that if public relations officers come together, it would open up avenues for synergy because as public relations officers, we are the ones to build and nurture relationships. So if there is any allegation of any security agencies not working together, it would be an indictment on us.”
“It was on that note we formed Military, Police and Para-Military Public Relations Officers Forum (MILPOPPROF). When we went for registration at the Corporate Affairs Commission, the best name we could use was Peace and Conflict Resolution Resource Centre (PEACrCE ) because that came out from the objectives of trying to register MILPOPPROF as a forum. But over the years, we have stepped away from the strict intention of creating synergy with the Public Relations Officers to an attempt to address the issues and preach security because the biggest challenge in Nigeria today is security. So we are trying to make our own contributions and in a single sentence, I can say PEACrCE stands to elevate security information management as a tool for national security. That is the major objective.”
The Army Colonel who is also the current Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of Peace and Conflict Resolution Resource Centre has appealed to those in positions of authority to give more support to groups like PEACrCE which are trying to work for the improvement of Nigeria’s security architecture.
According to him, “I am a communication officer dealing in information management and the best way one can expect me to contribute to national security is by highlighting information management and communication as a tool we can also use because a lot of things we see; happen simply because information is not getting to the right places in the right shade and at the right time and through the right channels.”
“So if we do our information management in a more organized way, maybe some of these things would not happen. Regrettably, information and communication are things people only think about when a situation has arisen. So what we are just trying to push is to be more proactive with elements of communications as we go about our duties.”
https://any.peopleandpowermag.com/army-information-officer-appeals-for-harmony-among-veterans/
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