by Azeez Adeniyi

The Nigerian Army has expressed displeasure over the use of social media to disclose classified information by some soldiers.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai said this when he declared open a 3-day workshop on “Office Management and Document Security’’ for Nigerian army officers in Abuja on Monday.

Buratai who was represented by Maj. Gen. Chris Jemitola said a directorate to focus solely on the management of the social media in the service will be established.

“The social media has brought additional challenges to information security which are being used by misguided personnel contrary to our service rules.

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“The Nigerian army has extant policy on the use of the social media which prohibits among others, the use of the social media to discuss or disclose service matters.

“It is indeed very unfortunate and unprofessional for service personnel to resort to the social media to disclose classified information or express grievances when the Nigerian army has well-established channels for addressing complaints’’, Buratai said.

He said the workshop will draw the attention of officers to the importance of securing service documents.

“The ultimate objective of this forum is to build your capacity to effectively support my vision which is to have a professionally responsive Nigerian army in the discharge of its constitutional roles’’, he said.

Buratai noted that some of those documents were highly classified to the extent that their disclosure could be injurious to national security.

“You know that as officers, it is your responsibility to ensure that messages are properly drafted and released in conformity with the rules and convention of service writing.

“You also approve the security classifications, message instructions, distribution lists and enclosures where necessary.

“This role extends to finally signing or authorising these documents for release, these are pivotal responsibilities that must not be taken lightly.’’