By Elizabeth Chukwuma
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency ,NIMASA,under the close watch of Bashir Jamoh, and Lt. General Ibrahim Attahiru, led Nigerian Army, have announced a plan to cooperate on the training and retraining of Defenc Journalists and other public communication practitioners in the country’s security sector.
Philip Kaynet ,a Deputy Director, and Head of the agency Corporate Communications Department disclosed that this was the highpoint of a meeting in Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve centre.
Aliyu Yusuf, a Colonel and Acting Commandant of the Army School of Public Relations and Information, ASPRI, was said to have led a Team from the school, at the instance of Attahiru, the Chief of Army Staff, COAS, to the NIMASA’S headquarters for the meeting. The Nigerian Army delegation said the courtesy call was to explore areas for collaboration with the Maritime Regulatory agency.
Jamoh had expressed the cordial relationship between agency and the military, particular, the Nigerian Army, which had played a leading role in the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, the Deep Blue Project, which is domiciled at the Agency.
“We have a very cordial relationship with the Armed Forces,” the NIMASA Director General, had said. The two establishments, according to informed sources ‘’are working towards the same goal of national security and development,” he added.
The NIMASA, Director General, who could not hide his feelings had told those that cares to listen that “the Nigerian Army remains a strategic partner in its search for maritime security, noting that ‘’it plays a critical role in the Deep Blue Project’’.
It is not surprising why he had told Yusuf, Commandant of NASPRIN, that the agency the agency is very happy ‘’to work with the Army in the dissemination of information on national security issues’’. He further disclosed that ‘’the agency has a responsibility to manage security information I such a way that would engender confidence in the polity – and not endanger the country.”
He further disclosed of the plan by NIMASA ‘’to set up a media academy for the training and retraining of professionals that report the maritime industry’’. Given an insider information of the Academy, he had said that ‘’the Agency’s Public Relations Unit would interface with NASPRI to come up with a robust curriculum and information sharing method that would serve NIMASA and the Army in the implementation of their respective mandates’’.
The ASPRIN Commandant, who had commended the warm relationship between the Nigerian Army and NIMASA, said he looks forward to more robust partnership between the two establishments, stating that the Nigerian ArmySchool of Public Relations and Information, had trained many maritime journalists, members of the Armed Forces, and others involved in security reporting over the years.
