The event, which took place in Aba, the commercial hub of Abia, was attended by no fewer than 300 social media practitioners and mainstream journalists in the state. The theme for the 33rd edition of the nationwide seminar is “Enhancing national security through responsible use of the social media”.In an address of welcome, the Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Maj.-Gen. Nosa Ugbo said that the programme offered an opportunity for the military to cross-fertilise ideas with the youths on how best to deploy social media and avoid causing a breach of peace and security in the country.Ugbo, represented by the Director of Psychological Operations, Brig.-Gen. B.S Keji of the Department of Civil-Military Affairs said the seminar was meant to chart ways for collective security responsibility, given that security is everybody’s business.He said: “We held this kind of event in Damturu in February.“This is the turn of Abia and it is not by mistake that we choose Aba as a venue.“It is partinent we choose Aba, a nice industrious city of the state with energetic youths, who are mostly productive.”Also, the Garrison Officer Commanding 82 Division, Maj.-Gen. Hassan Dada, expressed delight over the event, saying that it was worth the while.“I am delighted to be here for a great seminar for the social media users in Abia as it has been held in some other states of the federation.“We give focus to social media users because of their pivotal role in nation building and they constitute the greater percentage of the society,” Dada said.A resource person, Dr Ehiz Odigie, who spoke on “Curtailling negative contents on social media: Responsibilities of users”, dissected the dangers of fake and unverified news to national security.He feared that if not properly checked, the challenge posed by the wrong use of social media to the country’s social security might be child’s play, especially with the advent of Artificial Intelligence and other evolving technological inventions meant to enhance communication.Two participants, namely the Abia President of the Online Proprietors Association of Nigeria, Promise Okoro, and immediate past President of the Students Union Government, Abia Polytechnic, Aba, Edwin Chijioke, described the seminar as rich, educative and impactful.They said that it further exposed the participants to how they could use social media responsibly because of their potency to cause social tension and security breaches of unimaginable dimensions in the country.