NAF trains personnel on strategic communication

The Nigerian Air Force says it will continue to train its personnel, especially those of the public relations department, to effectively and efficiently disseminate information on its activities to Nigerians.

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar stated this at a 2-day “Strategic Perception Management Workshop’’ for its Public Relations/Information personnel on Tuesday in Abuja,

“This is especially so, as the service is involved in the fight against insurgency in the North East and anti-banditry operations in the North West alongside other internal security operations in other parts of the country,’’ Abubakar said.

The theme of the workshop is: “Strategic Perception Management for the Nigerian Air Force,’’ which was organised in conjunction with Gavinta and Associate Ltd.

Represented by AVM Nelson Camlday, the Director of Administration (DOA), Abubakar noted that information management and strategic communication had continued to assume increasingly important role in conduct of operations at all level.

“Indeed, in many cases, the effectiveness with which a fighting force manages its information could determine how well its personnel fight, how the adversary responds, as well as how the populace on both sides react to the vicissitudes of the war.

“In view of this, nations around the world have continued to place a premium on information management, especially in building the capacity of those personnel whose duty it is to manage their strategic communication.

The air chief said manner in which the NAF has done this over time had enhanced the perception of the service as a responsible and accountable organisation.

“Notwithstanding this, we realise the need to continue training and retraining our personnel for enhanced service delivery,” he said.

The CAS expressed optimism that the workshop would go a long way in providing additional impetus to the personnel in carrying out their day-to-day responsibility of creating a favourable image for the NAF.

Earlier, Air Commodore Ibikunle Daramola, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information noted that the importance of constant and continuous training of personnel could not be overemphasized.

According to him, there should be constant training of information personnel to remain relevant and abreast of the dynamic media space.

Daramola said the training was designed to further educate NAF’s public relations personnel to utilise the social media as the evolving perception management tool and fastest information dissemination medium to the outside world.

“It was also very glaring that most field public relations and information personnel lacked the requisite knowledge, especially with regard to the crucial role of social media in getting our messages to the various public as well as how to exploit digital and new media to create compelling narratives and manage information about the service.

“This brought to light the need to hold the first workshop, which helped to enlighten personnel on current expectations, as well as chart a way forward as to NAF’s media agenda,’’ Daramola said.