The Department of State Security (DSS) has announced the appointment Mr. PN Afunanya as its spokesman and Public Relations Officer (PRO).
This was contained in a statement in Abuja by the Public Relations Department of the Service .
The last occupant of the office was Mrs. Maryln Ogar, who was removed by the recently sacked Director General of the Service, Mr. Lawal Daura in 2015 immediately on assumption of office and the Service had been operating without a known spokesman except one Tony Opuiyo who sometimes issued statements on its behalf.
On assumption of office last week, the Acting Director General of the Agency, M.r Mathew Seiyefa, assured journalists that the issue of the appointment of a substantive spokesman for the Service was being addressed as part of efforts to correct perspectives of the members of the public against the agency.
The new spokesperson, Afunanya, according to the statement, attended the Abia State University Uturu and the University of Uyo where he obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in English (1997) and Master of Arts English (2009) respectively.
He also holds a Master of Arts Peace and Strategic Studies (2011) dgree from the University of Ilorin and is currently pursuing a PhD in Security and Strategic Studies at the Nasarawa State University Keffi.
Afunanya attended several courses within and outside Nigeria namely: innovation and strategy at Harvard University Boston USA and Security Management and Coordination London, investigative journalism at City University London.
Other courses he had also attended are on leadership, arbitration, conflict resolution, negotiation and public communication. He is currently the Editor-in- Chief of the DSS in-house Magazine the Tripple S.
The new DSS spokesman belongs to several professional associations including the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Administrators, Nigeria Red Cross Society, Nigeria Institute for Industrial Security, Society for Peace Scholars and Practice. He is a fellow of the Institute of Corporate Administrators.
Meanwhile, the DSS has released the Bayelsa-based journalist and publisher of the Weekly Source Magazine, Mr. Jones Abiri, who was incacerated for over two years.
Abiri was arrested at his office in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State on July 21, 2016, over an alleged link to armed militancy in the Niger Delta region.
He was charged to court on July 27, 2018, after two years after his arrest and detention. Although he denied the allegation, he was initially granted bail in the sum of N2 million and two sureties who must be civil servants not lower than level 12.
