The Defence Headquarters has established the Directorate of Defence Media
Operations (DMO) to ensure seamless and harmonised information
dissemination on the various military operations across the country.
The Coordinator of DMO, Maj.-Gen. John Enenche disclosed this at the maiden
media briefing of the directorate on Wednesday in Abuja.
Enenche said that the new outfit of the Armed Forces was the latest strategic
initiative of the Chief of Defence Staff, in line with the military effort on media
operations.
According to him, the channel of communicating the operational activities of the
Nigerian military to the public has been streamlined to one source which is
henceforth the Directorate of Defence Media Operations.
“This implies that the directorate is now the clearinghouse for all information
relating to the operational activities of the armed forces, which will provide
authentic information on all issues bothering on military operations.
“Additionally, the directorate is to disseminate information on multi-agency
operations of which the Nigerian military is the lead agency.
“In clear terms, the Directorate of Defence Media Operations is responsible for
press briefings, releases and other press activities on all military-led multi-agency
operations, for internal and international engagements.
“The purpose of this establishment is to ensure that the armed forces
communicate its operational activities through one channel to the general public.
“It is envisioned to achieve “information delivery for positive effect”, at strategic,
operational, tactical and other levels of our target audience,’’ he said.
Enenche, however, called for cooperation and support of the media for the
directorate to enable it to deliver on its mandate.
He assured that the military would continue to review and re-strategise to tackle
the security challenges in the country in order to ensure adequate security of
lives and property.
On his part, the Director of the Directorate, Brig.-Gen. Bernard Onyiukwu, said
the directorate was created out of the need to interface with the media and the
public on all Armed Forces of Nigeria military operations both internal and
external.
Onyiukwu added that it would collate and disseminate timely and credible
information to the media in order to create a balanced understanding of military
operations and their objectives.
He said it was imperative for the armed forces to keep the citizens abreast with
the activities of its various operations towards addressing the myriads of security
challenges confronting the country.
According to him, the current security challenges in the country range from
activities of insurgents in the North East; cattle rustling, banditry and kidnapping
in the North West; farmers/herders conflict in the North Central.
“The South generally is characterized by militancy, oil theft, and cultism.
“Currently, we have a total of nine ongoing Armed Forces of Nigeria operations in
different parts of the country, besides the Multinational Joint Task Force
Operation, with its headquarters at N’Djamena, Republic of Chad.
“The operations are Operation Lafiya Dole, Operation Delta Safe, Operation Safe
Haven, Operation Awatse, Operation Safe Corridor and Operation Whirl Stroke.
“Others are, Operation Whirl Punch, Operation Thunder Strike and Operation
Hadarin Daji.
“The directorate is established to coordinate, collate and disseminate information
from the theatres of all Armed Forces of Nigeria led operations,’’ he said.
The Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. Onyema Nwachukwu,
said that the new directorate emanated from lack of harmonised information
management from the various theatres of operation across the country.
Nwachukwu said that the Directorate of Defence Information would no longer
speak on the military operations, but would continue to perform its statutory
duties.
