A nation’s national power comes in both tangible and intangible components. A strong and virile military force is a credible and tangible addition to a nation’s power and when combined with intangible components like strong economy and national will, a nation’s national power becomes effective. The place of the Armed Forces of Nigeria (AFN) as a key instrument of national power is cast in stone and cannot be overemphasized. At the international and regional level, it stands tall through its numerous award-winning escapades in the enforcement of peace and security.
Back home in Nigeria, it continues to confront the threats posed by terrorists operating in the North as well as other non-state actors operating in other parts of the country.
The support and encouragement it deserves from the Nigerian public after successful operations or whenever it faces fatalities or mishaps is well below expectation unlike what obtains in other climes. In other countries, public support is a key factor considered before committing troops to combat.
The United States of America learnt this the hard way during the Vietnam War as well as in Lebanon and Somalia after unfavourable public support constrained the range of politically acceptable policies for successfully concluding the military operations in these countries.
The lack of empathy and support for the AFN is further compounded by the enemy’s skilled utilization of the social media to its advantage, with unsuspecting Nigeria’s social media buffs serving as willing tools for the spread of their ideologies. A case in point was the recent video uploaded and circulated on social media platforms which depicted the wreckage of the crashed MI-171 Nigerian Air Force (NAF) helicopter and bodies the victims at Chukuba Village in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State. Sadly, the video has so far received nearly a million views and over 50,000 shares on both X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube combined, after social media buffs aided and abetted the uncontrolled sharing and spreading of the propaganda orchestrated by the terrorists.
Indeed, the social media, once a medium of personal connection, commerce and trade, has since morphed into a battlefield where information has become weaponized. Gone were the days when winning wars was a matter of finding and neutralizing an adversary’s centre of gravity through aerial bombardments of critical infrastructures and propagandas using radios and leaflets drops. The social media has since changed that narrative and all it takes is a smart phone and some idle seconds, and anybody can do it.
But why is public support such a big deal to the AFN? Here are a few crucial reasons:
In their everyday lives, members of the AFN make sacrifices that can often go unnoticed by the public–be it the challenges of routine duties; the struggles of their spouses looking for another job after relocating to a new unit; or even a child adjusting to a new school and new friends. Members of the AFN and their families selflessly do whatever it takes to serve and protect the nation, including months or years spent apart from loved ones, families divided by distance and deployment to conflict zones.
Members of the AFN are also ordinary people doing extraordinary things. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, NAF aircraft were used to ferry drugs and relief materials within Nigeria and to other West African Countries. Additionally, members of the AFN are often the first to respond to conflicts overseas, leaving behind their loved ones at a moment’s notice to head into harm’s way. So, it’s only right to be there for them as well.
In the USA, an organization known as the United Service Organization (USO) stands at the forefront of strengthening America’s military service members by keeping them connected to their families, home and Country. The USO is a private organization established in 1941 and funded through the generosity of individuals, organizations and corporations and powered by volunteers to accomplish its mission of connecting military families. Till date, the USO continuously adapt to the needs of U.S military personnel, while enabling them to focus on their assigned roles. A similar organization in Nigeria with comparable functions would no doubt go a long way in enhancing the support to the AFN as they face, frontally, the task of keeping Nigerians safe.
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