Usman Tar, Borno Commissioner for Information and Internal Security, says the state has successfully overcome the negative impact of the Boko Haram attacks, urging the media to report accurately.
Tar said this at a two-day workshop on Addressing Patterns of Violence, Injustice and Criminality in Nigeria, on Wednesday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by International Alert Nigeria with the support of the Borno State Ministry of Information and Internal Security.
The commissioner said that journalists and media organisations must refrain from projecting the state based on past events and begin to report the true position of its activities.
“The media is still trapped in the old narrative of Borno being the home of insurgence, but all this has changed; our 27 local governments are fully controlled by the federal forces.
“There is freedom of movement, our transportation is booming, our agriculture is booming and everything is working.
“This narrative needs to be carried by the media and that is what I mean by journalist not projecting the state in its true positions,” he said.
Tar said that Maiduguri, the state capital, was very safe for habitation and every other business activity including journalism. He gave the assurance of the governor that journalists and media organisations now have the freedom to enter any organisation for information without fear of being blocked or censored.
Paul Nyulaku-Bemshima, the Country Director of International Alert Nigeria, said that the essence of the meeting was to brainstorm and identify the major issues that Nigeria was grappling with about security.
“This expert meeting is on addressing patterns of violence, injustice and criminalities in Nigeria and it is the second edition.
“The overriding objective of this meeting is that we identify key resolutions of what is going on in different regions of Nigeria.
“This is because working in silos is always very counterproductive, so it is always good to establish peer learning opportunities like this.
“Where we all together access the drivers of injustice insecurity, violence and injustice across the country,” he stated.
Nyulaku-Bemshima said that it was pertinent to address these three factors that cut across the whole country and were bedevilling every region in order to provide solutions and achieve growth and development.
He recommended exit pathways such as amnesties, an increase in access to justice in communities where rights have been violated and other kinetic and non-kinetic actions and solutions.
Melissa Camaganacan, 2nd Secretary, High Commission of Canada to Nigeria, recommended the inclusion of gender equality perspectives in security measures.
Dr Joseph Ochogwu, Director General, of the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution, lauded the organisers of the event for the forum to deliberate and provide solutions to ensure peace and security in the country.
Ochogwu was represented by Dr Abosede Babatunde, Senior Officer, Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution. Other stakeholders, including representatives of the Nigeria Army Resource Centre, the Nigerian Union of Journalists, and Security stakeholders from North-West, South-East and international stakeholders commended the organisers and called for a sustained platform for dialogues.