New Telegraph

NAF fighter jet downed by terrorists, not bandits –Namdas

The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Army, Abdulrazak Namdas (APC, Adamawa), insists the gunmen who brought down a Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jet in Zamfara State last week are terrorists, not bandits.

 

Namdas, who stated in Abuja at a two-day capacity building workshop on conflict reporting for journalists organised by the Konrad- Adenaeur Stiftung (KAS), a German foundation, in conjunction with the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), said if bandits could shoot down a fighter jet, they are more than bandits.

According to the former House spokesman, journalists play critical roles in the fight against insecurity through ethical reportage and pace setting, as agenda-setters.

 

The lawmaker said: “It is important that the right terms and terminologies are used when reporting or describing any act of terror, attacks or conflict to better inform the people.

 

“If a bandit can graduate to bringing down a fighter jet and you still call him a bandit then there is a problem. “It is the responsibility of the media to report with the correct names because there is no religion, tribalism or party lines in any form of conflict.”

 

Namdas observed that when one is kidnapped, there is nothing like APC or PDP, so the nation needs to unite and tackle the surfing insurgent with one voice. He said: “The politicians should not be setting the pace, the media is supposed to set the pace.

 

“As chairman, House committee on army, the challenges before us is very enormous in terms of security and all stakeholders must be on board because we cannot resolve insurgency, banditry with kid’s gloves. “We felt the need for a capacity building with the media because today if you look at some of the terminologies and cliché on who is a bandit, terrorist, cattle rustler, armed robber, you begin to wonder who is giving such names.” In his welcome address, Dr. Vladmir Kreck, the Country Representative of KAS Nigeria, said conflict reporting remains one of the most difficult fields for journalists to cover with a lot of risks and when not reported correctly, could also escalate crises.

Kreck said building the capacity of journalists on how to report the crises situation in the country would also help in the successful fight against insurgents, bandits and other non-state actors.

 

He said: “One of the objectives of KAS is to promote democratic governance and in Nigeria we have a very large programme on the security sector reforms.

 

“The House committee on army is one of our most important partners in the support of the security sector reform.

 

“Conflict reporting is probably the most dangerous jobs for journalists, considering that journalist need to go to the fields to report, to probably risk their lives and threat to their lives.”

 

The Executive Director of the PTCIJ, Dapo Olorunyomi, said how well a journalist reported a situation was what would bring professionalism to bare.

 

He urged the Federal Government to consider the initiative’s Britain and Canada regarding global media coalition and freedom aimed at dealing specifically with the rights and safety of journalists.

 

He said it was disheartening that only Ghana and Cameroon in the sub-region had been able to join the coalition

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