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The North East Regional Initiatives (NERI) has urged Nigerians to use the social media as an effective communication tool to end the sufferings of Nigerians in the north-east, occasioned by insurgency.
Using the platform of just concluded social media week, the group says there is a need for the government and concerned Nigerians to develop a social media communication strategy with which to battle violent extremism in the country.
Muhammad Fraser Rahim, executive director, Quilliam International, said Nigerian government has been working with the western nations to deal with this fight against violence, extremism and terrorism.
Rahim said Nigeria is not the only country going through such extremism, adding that it is a global challenge.
“When Chibok girls were abducted, the United States, including Mitchelle Obama, stood in solidarity. It is something that affects Nigerians as a whole, and no one can just go missing. There is this campaign in the United States that says, if you see something, say something. Unfortunately, there is a silent code of conduct because people want to say something but are scared of being prosecuted. So we have seen this and we are saying that the government and the military cannot do this alone here. It requires friends, and neighbouring community leaders working side by side.”
He further said technical training is just as important as physical dialect and social communication, stating that there is a twisted ideology of tribe and religion in farmers-herdsmen clash, which should be corrected.
“Government’s inability to provide jobs is one factor. About 57percent of 200 of Boko Haram insurgents stated that ideology was one of the reason why they joined the group. Fifty-one percent of the 200 stated they knew nothing about religion. There is a disconnect; there are group factors, which is why we need to speak out and communicate.”
Athanasius Barkinde, a catholic priest, who represented Matthew Hassan Kukah, founder of Kukah Centre, stated that many people are disempowered and hungry.
“How do I tell my local people that they are appreciated in Nigeria, when the land they depend on has been taken over by the herdsmen?” he asked.
“There are certain things the government can do in this country. Military and humanitarian approach have been the government strategy, but what is lacking collectively as Nigerians is a social media communication strategy to counter the extremist ideology of Boko Haram that litters everywhere in northern Nigeria. We need to use the social media as a strategy to counter it because the extreme groups are communicating.”
Hamsatu Hallamin, former director of NSRP, urged northerner governors to come together against extremism.
“I initiated different programs to make the real Boko Haram to speak out. Children will tell you how to couple a gun together. We need to sit up and do the real work. What we have seen is only humanitarian intervention.
“Everyone has a role to play, from the parents to the children. First, we must elect politicians who control the resources and take the decision to restructure the country in such a way that we will feel proud of our country and accept one another irrespective of our religion. We must not bring religion into whatever is public. We should build schools and give people the opportunity to learn so that we can be proud citizens.”
According to NERI, the programme was borne out of the need to empathise with Nigerians from north- east Nigeria who have faced widespread destruction and displacement as a result of violent extremism.
NERI is a program focused on implanting activities that positively impact citizens’ condition while minimising the space that allows extremists to exist, operate, and thrive in their current environment, battling violent extremism in Nigeria, the group said.
ODINAKA ANUDU
