Nigeria’s Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, says the government will continue to leverage the information assets of Voice of Nigeria (VON) to combat the threats of fake news, disinformation, and misinformation targeting the nation on the international stage.
Idris, who stated this in Abuja at the management retreat of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), said public broadcasters are expected to project the success stories being recorded by the administration.
Idris emphasized that for media organizations such as Voice of Nigeria (VON) to remain competitive in the crowded global media landscape, they must leverage emerging digital technologies to enhance the quality and reach of their content, ensuring relevance in an ever-evolving world.
“Let me also assert that in order to support our new evolution, our nation will increasingly rely on VON’s information assets to thwart the menace of fake news, disinformation, and misinformation against the Nigerian nation.
“For media organisations like VON to compete in a crowded global field, technology must be a priority. You must leverage new and emerging digital technologies to improve the quality and reach of what you do here, and to ensure that you continue to stay relevant in these ever-changing times,” he said.
The Minister further charged VON, as the nation’s external broadcaster, to tell the world of Nigeria’s newfound road to economic recovery and a remerging regional and international economic and political powerhouse.
“The Voice of Nigeria must be able to tell the world that Nigeria is working again; that we are winning the war on terrorism, banditry, and ethnic warlords that seemed to define us lately; that we are renergising our population towards sustainable productivity; that our young population has a clearer path to quality tertiary education through the National Education Loans Fund (NELFUND), and importantly, that our nation is going through an energy transition phase that will guarantee more sustainable electricity and gas to power our homes and machinery
“It is important that through the deliberate reportage of news and analysis on Nigeria to international audiences, no gaps are left in the curating of our nation’s gradual road to greatness,” the Minister said.
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The Information Minister assured that the year 2025 will serve to consolidate the ongoing reforms being implemented under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which he noted, are already delivering remarkable results across various sectors of the economy.
“There’s no doubt, I assure you, that the year 2025, will consolidate Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda reforms, which is already yielding good results in different facets of our socio-economic and political life.
“At a time like this, a phase in which our dear country is also undergoing a strategic socio-economic turn-around under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, on their part, public broadcasters under the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, are certainly expected to match the pace and expectations of government in projecting our success stories,” he said.
Speaking on Leadership, the Director-General of Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), Olalekan Fadolapo, said leadership is an act that is earned and not forced.
“You don’t demand for respect, you earn it. So it is only leaders that earns that respect. They don’t force people into it. So this is an act. Leadership is not about arts. So for the new Voice of Nigeria that is being built, is built around leadership and team building. Meaning that everybody is a leader. Either you are a director, you are a DG, you are a head of department, you are leading a group of people. The CSO is a leader because he is leading security people. And as you are able to move these people, depending on what result you will get,” he said.
On his part, Nigeria’ s Former Minister of Information, Professor Jerry Gana, urged VON family to remain united.
“I congratulate the DG. This is a very well targeted retreat because it is a way of bringing the entire world together so that there will be a sharing of the vision, a togetherness, and the collective will to succeed. So this is a very good opportunity. I was very delighted that it is a family. You can see that here we have a family, the workers are happy. And I hope that they will continue to have that solidarity, that togetherness. And projecting the Voice of Nigeria effectively to every part of the world.”
The Retreat has as theme: ‘Voice of Nigeria in the 21st Century: Restructuring for Global Impact’.
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