Officials of the United States Centre for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications currently in Nigeria have visited the Centre for Crisis Communication (CCC) and pledged to support the Centre in realizing its set objectives.
Speaking
on behalf of the team, the Deputy Coordinator, Partnership Engagement
and Outreach, of the US Centre for Counterterrorism Comunication, Mr
Stevie Hamilton noted with satisfaction the level of professionalism,
commitment and diligence with which the Nigeria’s CCC approaches the
onerous task of communicating and managing crisis in Nigeria.
The delegation promised to provide necessary technical support to assist the CCC to grow.
“It
is heart-warming to know that a centre of this nature exists in the
country and more importantly that it is able to do the kind of work it
is doing. I have no doubt in my kind that given the necessary support in
terms of capacity, resource and institutional backing, the centre will
certainly bridge the gap in the access to information that will aid in
preventing, managing or mitigating crisis in the country, and how the
rest of the world view Nigeria.
“I
am really impressed with what you have set out to achieve, what have
been achieved already and indeed your sheer determination to succeed in
the face of challenges that might be on your way as an NGO. We have
similar Centre in the US, the Centre for Strategic Counterterrorism
Communications, and that’s where am coming from. The whole idea is to
find a common ground where we can provide you the necessary assistance
to enable you achieve your set objectives and more importantly to serve
humanity”, said Hamilton.
Earlier
in his welcome remarks, CCC Executive Secretary, Air Commodore Yusuf
Anas (Rtd) thanked the officials for finding time to visit the office.
He explained that the Centre came to being in response to the need to fill an existing gap in crisis communication in Nigeria.
Centre
for Crisis Communication is actively involved in collecting, collating,
processing, harmonizing and disseminating information on any crisis or
potential crisis situation in the country, which he said is with a view
to providing credible and professional crisis communication to the
general public.
“The
objective is for the Centre to evolve proactive measures and establish
systematic approach to crisis communication to fill the existing
communication gap”.
Anas
added that the Centre has as its stakeholders all the security and
response agencies in Nigeria, which it interfaces with to provide
strategic crisis communication.
He
expressed the willingness of the Centre to partner with credible
organizations like the US Centre for Strategic Counterterrorism
Communications as leverage to building its own capacity and quality of
services.
It
will be recalled that the US Special Envoy for Strategic
Counterterrorism Communications, Mr Rashad Hussain recently led his team
including Stevie Hamilton to a meeting with Vice President Yemi
Osibanjo in the State House.
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