Umaru Pate, a Nigerian professor of media history and an academician, on Wednesday, said the occasional misunderstandings between the media, humanitarian, and security sectors are causing more harm than good to Nigeria.

The professor who is the Vice Chancellor of Federal University Kashere in Gombe also highlighted the importance of a collaboration between the three crucial sectors in tackling the insecurity bedeviling Nigeria at a conference organised by Africa’s foremost security newspaper, HumAngle in Abuja.

“Media through selective reporting determines what the public see and think as well as influence policy direction,” he said. 

He added that despite playing various roles towards addressing the current insecurity in Nigeria, the media, humanitarian, and security sectors tend to misunderstand themselves. 

“There have been occasional misunderstanding of roles and exchange of hot words and show of might by various actors in the field,” he said. “Such experiences have resulted in brutal encounters that impacted negatively on humanitarian workers and media professionals who have been accused of ‘bad or irresponsible behaviours’ by security personnel.” 

Explaining ways in which Nigeria can better manage its security problem through the media, the expert called for training of security journalists, free flow of information from the government to journalists, prosecution of those who attack journalists, continuous engagement between the security agencies, humanitarian workers and journalists for improved understanding and positive working relationship between them.

Nigeria has been marred with insecurity in the last few years, leading to the death of thousands of people and displacement of many in different regions of the country.  

HumAngle’s conference aims to boost collaboration between the media, security, and humanitarian sectors in Nigeria, for better crisis management.