Nigeria has tasked the United Nation Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNESCO to help in combating fake news and misinformation which have been identified as a growing menace to the country’s unity and polity in general.
This was disclosed by Nigeria’s Information and Culture Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Thursday in Paris during a meeting with UNESCO Assistant Director for Communication and Information, Mr. Tawfik Jelassi on the side lines of the 41st General Conference of UNESCO.
While thanking UNESCO on their role in protecting Journalists, the Minister also tasked the organization to extend its frontiers towards cracking and detection of fake news and misinformation contents in the Media.
He said bodies like UNESCO should collaborate with the National Orientation Agency to reach out to the grass roots about the dangers of fake news and misinformation.
“I see this as more deadly than terrorism, especially in a country like Nigeria where the naysayers have succeeded in looking and analyzing issues from the ethno-religious point of view.’’
The Minister then called on the global body to focus their light on the negative trend of fake news, hate speech and misinformation.
The Minister decried a situation where in the 21st century every individual claim to be a journalist, meanwhile most of them are not properly trained.
Alhaji Mohammed said UNESCO must assist government and the public; the mandate and emphasis must not be restricted to the protection of journalist alone, even though it is very important.
“Fake news and misinformation have the capacity to destroy unity and harmony in Nigeria and we need your assistance in that regard. Support our campaign and advocacy against fake news and misinformation.
Today the situation is completely different and totally dangerous. These days every person with a smart phone device considers him/her self-journalist.”
The Minister also reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment towards the protection of Journalists and the freedom of the press.
He said Nigeria was one of the freest countries for press to operate. The Minister gave the story of his antecedence as an opposition spokesman and how he operated freely and how the media in Nigeria is enjoying all the necessary freedom to operate.
He said in Nigeria, the media operates freely and the government is even the entity at the receiving end.
The Assistant Director General for Communication and Information, Tawfik Jelassi said UNESCO has a very serious role to play for information to trickle down to the society. He said the global body would do all within its powers and mandate to help curb fake news and misinformation.
Nneka Ukachukwu
