Odita Sunday 
Kana Urges Defence Reporters To Highlight Troops’ Successes, Sacrifices
By Odita Sunday
The Permanent Secretary, General Services Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Dr Abubakar Ibrahim Kana, has urged defence correspondents to give greater attention to the successes and sacrifices of Nigerian troops in their coverage of the country’s security challenges.
Kana said journalists who had accompanied troops to operational theatres had seen first-hand the difficult conditions under which military personnel operate and should reflect those realities in their reports.
He spoke on Tuesday in Abuja when the leadership of the Defence Correspondents Association of Nigeria (DECAN) visited him ahead of the association’s annual conference scheduled for Monday at the Army Officers’ Mess 1, Asokoro, Abuja.
A former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Kana said reporting on casualties should not overshadow the achievements recorded by the Armed Forces in their operations against banditry, insurgency and other security threats.
“Unlike in the past where journalists report 50 soldiers killed, one soldier beheaded, but you did not report that 1,000 bandits were killed. That should be the news,” he said.
He argued that the security challenges facing the country were not created by the Armed Forces, stressing that military personnel had continued to make sacrifices in the line of duty.
Kana commended DECAN for what he described as improved coverage of military operations, particularly by correspondents who had travelled with troops to the battlefield.
“You have seen life. You have followed them to the war front. You have seen that these guys actually work day and night. The least we can do for them is appreciation,” he said.
He also praised the Armed Forces for providing access and support to defence correspondents covering operations across the country.
Reflecting on his three-year tenure at the Ministry of Defence, Kana said his open-door policy enabled him to maintain close relationships with military personnel, civilian staff and journalists.
He said the experience also gave him a deeper understanding of the operations of the various military services and formations, insisting that the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, as accounting officer, should have access to information on government-funded operations.
Kana also highlighted some of the reforms and infrastructure projects undertaken during his tenure, including the installation of reverse osmosis machines and water dispensers, renovation of toilets, improvement of the ministry’s external facilities and expansion of car parking spaces.
He said a new hospital was also initiated and equipped, while the dental unit was expanded to improve healthcare services for military personnel.
One of the reforms he highlighted was a proposal to harmonise the medical services of the Army, Navy and Air Force into a single Armed Forces Medical Corps.
According to him, the proposed structure would enable military personnel to access specialised medical services across the three services rather than being restricted to facilities operated by their respective services.
Kana said the proposal also included establishing a medical college under the Nigerian Defence Academy, with the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna, developed as a teaching hospital.
He said the plan was intended to strengthen the Armed Forces’ capacity to train its own doctors and other medical personnel and reduce reliance on short-service medical officers.
Kana further disclosed that he secured a 100 per cent increase in the quota for house officers for the Armed Forces as part of efforts to strengthen military healthcare.
On defence production, the former permanent secretary said the ministry had begun plans to expand local manufacturing by encouraging greater participation of private-sector companies outside Kaduna.
He said the proposed review of the Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria Act was aimed at creating room for private manufacturers in other parts of the country to participate in defence production.
Earlier, the President of DECAN, Odita Sunday, expressed grief over the deaths of military personnel and civilians in a helicopter crash on Monday.
Sunday described Kana as a respected public servant who maintained a strong relationship with journalists during his time at the Ministry of Defence.
He recalled that Kana played a role in the formal registration of DECAN with the Corporate Affairs Commission after providing the association with a letter of introduction.
According to Sunday, more than 100 members of the association had voted for Kana to become a patron of DECAN, with the formal conferment of the honour scheduled for the association’s annual conference on Monday.
He said the Minister of Defence had confirmed his attendance at the conference, while the National Security Adviser and service chiefs were also expected.
Sunday thanked the Armed Forces for supporting the conference, describing the partnership as evidence of the longstanding relationship between the military and defence correspondents.
Kana accepted the nomination as DECAN patron and thanked the association for the recognition, promising to attend the conference.
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